According to the police summary of facts, on July 13 about 8.30pm, Rudd was driving a 2009 Ferrari 599.<\/p>\n
He was on Lakes Boulevard in Tauriko, on the outskirts of Tauranga, when he stopped after failing to navigate a roundabout.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkid marks and gouges out of the road were consistent with the vehicle becoming airborne over the planted roundabout, before leaving the road up a curb and colliding with a small tree,\u201d the summary said.<\/p>\n
Rudd was taken to Tauranga Hospital by ambulance for observation. <\/p>\n
The summary said he told police he didn\u2019t know what happened before the crash, and had been driving to see his daughter.<\/p>\n
He also said he\u2019d been knocked out earlier that day.<\/p>\n
There was no reparation sought by police.<\/p>\n
Rudd did not appear at an earlier court appearance in mid-September, nor at a formal proof hearing on Monday.<\/p>\n
While Section 118 of the Criminal Procedure Act requires a defendant to be present at the hearing, Rudd\u2019s charge was a category one offence and the court was permitted to proceed without him. <\/p>\n
Category one offences carry a maximum penalty of a fine or a community-based sentence with no possibility of imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Police prosecutor Kerry Sykes handed up photos and a statement from a police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the formal statement from the police, there\u2019s no evidence to the contraire, I find the matter proven,\u201d community magistrate Shaun Cole said.<\/p>\n
She fined Rudd $500 and ordered him to pay $100 court costs. <\/p>\n
Rudd has <\/a>faced charges in the Tauranga District Court before.<\/p>\n In November 2014, he was charged with attempting to procure the murder of two people after a police raid. <\/p>\n The charges were withdrawn by police.<\/p>\n However, he was charged with threatening to kill an employee and methamphetamine and cannabis offences after drugs were found in his home during a police raid.<\/p>\n Details given in court revealed he told an associate he wanted a former employee \u201ctaken out\u201d and offered him $200,000, a motorbike, and the choice of one of his cars or a house.<\/p>\n In July 2015, he received eight months\u2019 home detention after pleading guilty to the threatening to kill charge, as well as possession of 91g of cannabis and 0.478g of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n He appealed that sentence, having sought a discharge without conviction, but the High Court upheld Judge Thomas Ingram\u2019s sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n