[ad_1]
Niklas Gebhardt (30) was charged with manslaughter after his 6-year-old son Lachlan Gebhardt was killed in an accident at the bend of Lehmans Rd and River Rd near the Rangiora racecourse on November 5 last year.
He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
A two-week trial is scheduled to begin in Christchurch Superior Court on July 26 next year.
On Monday, Gebhardt walked into Christchurch Central Police Station and removed his clothes, refusing to put them back on.
He was arrested and charged with obscene exposure in public.
Yesterday, Gebhardt appeared via an audiovisual liaison (AVL) of custody before Community Magistrate Sally O’Brien in Christchurch District Court.
Defense attorney Andrew McCormick, who is also representing him on the homicide charge, explained the background to his client’s case. He stressed that Gebhardt was clearly “having some difficulties … in a sense of trauma.”
The Community Magistrate told Gebhardt that he did not have to immediately plead guilty to the exposure charge, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of three months in prison, and that police were happy to be released immediately on bail.
However, Gebhardt, whose parents were in the public gallery of the court to support him, asked to address the court directly.
He said that he had seen a therapist on Monday morning and said that “it would be best if I went to jail.”
“I would like to go to jail,” Gebhardt told the court.
“I am facing a manslaughter charge for the death of my son. I was driving the car, I would like to take responsibility for that.”
He also admitted to taking off his clothes at the Christchurch police station.
The Community Magistrate transferred the case to a District Court judge to handle Tuesday afternoon.
McCormick explained the situation again to Judge Quentin Hix, who asked if there were any underlying mental health problems.
The attorney said there were “clearly some psychological issues” that arose from the involuntary manslaughter case, but otherwise there was no need to request Section 38 mental health reports.
“He’s just fighting, the reality is,” McCormick said.
Gebhardt told the judge that he wanted to plead guilty, and when he was presented with the exposure charge, he did.
Judge Hix jailed him for a month and urged him to speak to his lawyer.
McCormick asked for a suppression order to prevent the case from being reported, but Judge Hix said he saw no reason to issue final suppression orders.
Gebhardt, a talented soccer player who represented Canterbury United, was rushed to hospital in critical condition after last year’s car accident. He was later transferred to the burn unit at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland.
Lachlan Gebhardt died at the scene.
