Reprinted from:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/disgruntled-employee-crashes-into-ird-building-2926890
19 August 2009
 ONE News – The Vehicle of David Jerrold Theobold |
A disgruntled tax worker has left the Inland Revenue in no doubt about his feelings towards them after driving his car through the front door of their Christchurch building.
David Jerrold Theobald, 47, appeared in Christchurch District Court on Tuesday charged with intentional damage and reckless driving, after driving into the building at 6.30am on Saturday.
The pictures posted on his blog show a portrait of a man making a stand just moments after he ploughed through three plate glass doors parking his car in the Christchurch Inland Revenue reception.
“At the end of my tether going for one last kamikaze move – this was a very carefully calculated protest,” says Theobald.
It was so carefully calculated he says, he checked there would be nobody in the building at the time.
“It’s cathartic, I actually feel a great release now,” he says.
Theobald describes himself as paranoid, and a depressive. Having worked for the IRD for 25 years, he says he was driven to the protest after a three year employment dispute.
He 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.”
Theobald’s friend Ross Dixion says he has been under constant pressure.
“He has just been under repeated constant pressure where he felt like he was getting nowhere,” she says.
The IRD has no comment about the damage or the employment matters, but the owner of the now battle-scarred building has much to say.
“Beating up on the IRD’s a national sport. Most people see he act as something he has managed to carry out against the IRD but it’s actually against someone’s private property,” says building owner Simon Henry.
Theobald has documented the incident all online and says he would not do it again – unless pushed.
“I wouldn’t do it again, unless I went through three years of harassment the way I have with the IRD,” he says.
Theobald has been remanded on bail to reappear on August 31.
Yeah simple — ‘…at the end of my tether making one last kamikaze move, this was a carefully calculated move’
I think we’re missing the little bit before which was probably ‘instead of cracking up after four weeks of pressure and being at the end of my tether, this was a carefully calculated move .. so possibly ‘to draw attention to the situation without the possibility of harming anyone’
Actually that’s what cryptome.org is all about — hey lisa — you can put up the little bit around that soundbite and lose all credibility — I reckon I’m pretty close here.
So I sent the analysis of how the soundbite was obtained and how close you had to edit it to cryptome
So Simon Henry’s complaining about having to pay a few dollars to fix the building? I think he should shut his mouth, since he charges taxpayers TRIPLE the going rate for commericial space in central Christchurch.
Dave,
You should tell Inland Revenue you’ll quit in return for a big payout. Then thins won’t be so bad.
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Watch for a live discussion on the glass if I can get it.
Mike — things aren’t so bad. I feel I’ve crawled through the longest tunnel in the world and come out in paradise.
A culture of payouts prevents transparency, integrity, accountability.
Hi Mick,
sounds like you’ve been through a bit. It would be good to catch up with you when I’m in New Zealand next, which will be around October hopefully.
Ron Bastard
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