Auckland laser beam attacks on police cars, harbour bridge driver sees man sentenced to community work

Jul 12, 2023

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Bosman used a high-powered laser to target vehicles.

A man who targeted motorists on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and several police officers with a high-powered laser has been sentenced to 120 hours’ community work.

Jean-Pierre Bosman appeared for sentence in the Auckland District Court on Tuesday morning before Judge Anna Fitzgibbon.

He earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of endangering safety via criminal nuisance, carrying a maximum penalty of a year in prison.

The charges stemmed from complaints in August and September 2021, during Auckland's Covid lockdown, of police and motorists targeted by a green laser.

Judge Fitzgibbon said Bosman had bought a laser device online with a beam capable of reaching nearly 1km.

On August 29, Bosman was at his apartment and shone the laser at traffic crossing the Harbour Bridge. One driver complained of losing their vision for a short period of time.

Two weeks later, over a two-day period, he targeted three police officers driving patrol vehicles.

In the first instance on September 11 he targeted a constable who was forced to stop the vehicle after their vision became blurred.

Another constable later noticed a green laser waving around the police Eagle helicopter. The laser then struck his windscreen and impaired his vision.

Bosman also targeted a sergeant who reported his vision was blurred for five to ten seconds.

His lawyer James Olsen said Bosman had recently come off a sentence of home detention for unrelated offending.

He described Bosman as a man whose life had taken a turn for the worse in recent years and he had "come off the rails".

Certain personal details including his prior occupation were suppressed at sentencing for reasons that cannot be reported.

"This is just further offending of anti-social behaviour," Olsen said.

"It's quite sad."

Bosman had not been able to work in his job as a hotel maintenance technician while on home detention, but the job was waiting for him to return to, Olsen said.

Because the job required night work, Olsen said community detention was not appropriate because it included a curfew.

Instead, he sought community work, which was supported by the Crown.

The offending occurred during lockdowns when Bosman was at home without any support, Olsen said.

Judge Fitzgibbon adopted a starting point of eight months in prison.

"The offending had the potential to be very serious," the Judge said.

The police officers and the driver who was first lasered could have crashed, she said.

Bosman received a 25 per cent discount for his early guilty plea and 10 per cent for the suppressed personal factors, taking him within range for community work.

Judge Fitzgibbon sentenced him to 120 hours and ordered the destruction of the laser device.

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