AC/DC's Phil Rudd is sentenced for threat to kill

A New Zealand judge has sentenced Rudd to eight months of home detention after the musician pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a man who used to work for him, along with possession of drugs methamphetamine and marijuana.

The 61-year-old drummer was sentenced in Tauranga District Court on New Zealand’s North Island. He had been facing up to seven years in prison on the threatening to kill charge.

Rudd pleaded guilty to the charges in April, acknowledging in a court summary of facts that he had offered large amounts of cash, vehicles and a house to an associate after asking him to have the victim “taken out”.

He also acknowledged that he had directly said to the victim that he was going to kill him.

Originally, he had been charged with attempting to procure a murder and threatening the victim’s daughter too, but those charges were dropped.

Rudd’s lawyer put the threats down to “just an angry phone call” and said that a drug conviction would stop him from being able to perform in some countries.

The home detention will take place at Rudd’s Tauranga beachfront home and could end in a jail term if conditions are breached.