Man found guilty of threatening to kill people at two Auckland schools

A man has been found guilty of threatening to kill people at two Auckland schools and saying he would destroy police stations and buildings at Parliament.A jury in the Manukau District Court today found Tiedan Huo guilty of 12 charges relating to threats against Waiuku and Rutherford colleges and other public buildings.Huo was also convicted for unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of explosives and possession of objectionable material.Huo denied all charges and mid-way through the trial elected to act for himself in place of the lawyers who had been acting for him.The charges stemmed from a manifesto, in which he spoke of using 3D-printed firearms in an attack.The jury took just under three hours to find him guilty on all charges.In his opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said that on 12 March last year, staff at Waiuku College woke to a chilling email that had been sent at 1.42am."It was titled 'Important: Don't come to school tomorrow'. And it started with the words 'This is my manifesto'."The email spoke of being bullied and humiliated by teachers at the school, being unfairly treated by police and being made to feel like a second-class citizen for being Chinese."I am going to do something about this now. I have began [sic] preparing for doing something about this since February this year and have finished now."The email went on to set out in some detail the preparations the sender said they had made to carry out attacks on Waiuku and Rutherford colleges, as well as damaging the Pukekohe and Te Atatu police stations and buildings at Parliament.That included making firearms using a 3D printer and creating bullets and explosives to be used in an attack.The sender said they wanted to kill more people than the Christchurch mosque terrorist, who murdered 51 innocent people on 15 March 2019."Do not assume that my guns will not work or are fake because they are 3D printed, that will be very bad."The email was purportedly sent by a female former Waiuku College student, but after she allowed police to examine her electronic devices, officers established this was not the case, and their inquiries led them to Huo.Tiedan Huo is due to be sentenced in October