{"id":252013,"date":"2026-01-26T05:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252013\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:13:11","slug":"alleged-wanaka-cell-tower-arsonist-daniel-miller-refuses-to-answer-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252013\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged W\u0101naka cell tower arsonist Daniel Miller refuses to answer judge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4JZRF0D_A_destroyed_One_NZ_cell_tower_near_W_naka_cemetery_jpg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1574\" alt=\"Contractors removing a destroyed One NZ cellphone communications tower near W\u0101naka cemetery on Friday 10 October, 2025, after the tower was vandalised.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nOne of several cell towers allegedly destroyed by Daniel Miller in the W\u0101naka region.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ\/ Katie Todd\n<\/p>\n<p>A man who is facing arson and firearms charges following a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/575311\/reckless-behaviour-cell-phone-tower-destroyed-in-possible-arson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">attacks on cellphone towers in W\u0101naka<\/a> has refused to answer questions from a judge.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Miller represented himself at a hearing at the Queenstown District Court on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The 41-year-old declined to say if he understood the proceedings, instead demanding to know if Judge Catriona Doyle was using her full and legal name.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Doyle said Miller appeared to be taking a sovereign citizen approach.<\/p>\n<p>He has been remanded in custody while he awaits a trial later this year.<\/p>\n<p>The attacks had been on numerous cell towers in W\u0101naka including Spark and OneNZ towers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4JZRER0_Contractors_removing_the_destroyed_mobile_site_on_Friday_jpg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" alt=\"Contractors removing a destroyed One NZ cellphone communications tower in W\u0101naka on Friday 10 October, 2025, after it was vandalised.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nContractors removing a destroyed One NZ cellphone communications tower in W\u0101naka on Friday 10 October, 2025, after it was vandalised.<br \/>\nPhoto: RNZ\/ Katie Todd\n<\/p>\n<p>Detective Senior Sergeant Regan Boucher had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/575726\/attacks-on-cell-towers-leave-community-worried-for-safety-and-angry\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">previously said<\/a> the &#8220;mindless&#8221; attacks were not only frustrating for the police but posed a serious risk to the public.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They can disrupt vital connectivity, including access to emergency services such as 111. The last thing we want, and I would also hope the persons responsible want, is for someone to be hurt because they couldn&#8217;t call for help,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of several cell towers allegedly destroyed by Daniel Miller in the W\u0101naka region. Photo: RNZ\/ Katie Todd&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-252013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}