IRD drove me to this

By STACEY WOOD - The Dominion Post

A taxman driven around the bend by continuing work woes drove his car through the building where he had worked for 25 years.

David Jerrold Theobald, 47, drove his Mazda 626 through the foyer of the Christchurch Inland Revenue building on Cashel St at 6.30am on Saturday after a three-year employment dispute.

He crashed through two sets of glass doors and smashed a third on the other side of the foyer before coming to a stop.

Mr Theobald said he had gone to great lengths to avoid risk to any staff.

"I checked with the cleaners the night before to make sure no-one would be in the building. I drove right up to the doors, looked both ways, then slowly pushed forward till the doors broke."

Mr Theobald said he was fed up with what he saw as concealment of workplace bullying and incompetent management at Inland Revenue.

"This has been going on for three years, and now I've got four official information requests in with them and they're making that as onerous as possible ... This was just a way to make a gesture."

He also wanted to highlight how easy it would be for someone with terrorist intentions to ramraid the building with a truck full of explosives. "It's just another 9/11 waiting to happen."

Mr Theobald is a fixture of the Christchurch music scene. He is known as Mick Elborado when he plays with his band The Axemen and in other groups.

He appeared in Christchurch District Court yesterday charged with intentional damage and reckless driving and was remanded on bail till August 31.

He told The Dominion Post he had not decided how he would plead, but was prepared to accept the consequences of his actions.

Inland Revenue would not comment on the incident as it was before the court, but Mr Theobald has received a letter from human resources head Patrick Crawford.

In it, Mr Crawford said: "Information has come to my attention which indicates that you may have intentionally driven a car through Inland Revenue's Christchurch building ... I am concerned that your conduct may be inconsistent with the Code of Conduct."

Mr Theobald could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty of criminal damage.

My alter ego's actions seem entirely reasonable if has to deal with people who speak like this on a daily basis:

Originally posted by Tagit The beard was a clever disquise though Obie

Yes very clever - however, how did you get the Jaguar to look like that ?

  well done that man.

Will the real slim shady please stand up 

Yeah and doesn't the statement by Mr Crawford epitomize the utter b.s. world he must live in.

Reckon David Theobald should now sue IRD, claim ACC, get over $1000 per week on benefits..

Wouldn't surprise me if the careful manner in which he did the deed and the way he ensured no others were likely to be injured during his gesture are actually found to be covered in the code of conduct.