AC/DC drummer under arrest again

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was behind bars yesterday after being arrested in New Zealand, just days after he was sentenced to home detention for threatening to kill a man who used to work for him.

The Australian-born drummer, 61, was arrested at his home on Saturday night, though police refused to comment on the nature of the arrest, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Rudd’s lawyer, Craig Tuck, confirmed in an email that Rudd had been arrested but did not say why, and that he was due to appear in court today for a bail application.

On July 9, Rudd was sentenced to eight months of home confinement after pleading guilty to threatening to kill a former employee and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana.

In that case, Rudd acknowledged in a court summary of facts he’d offered cash, vehicles, and a house to an associate after asking him to have the victim “taken out”. He also acknowledged he had directly said to the victim he was going to kill him. Prosecutors had originally charged Rudd with murder-for-hire, but later dropped that charge, citing lack of evidence.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Thomas Ingram warned Rudd he would go to prison if he breached the terms of his home detention, which banned him from taking any nonprescription drugs and subjected him to monitoring.

It’s unclear whether Rudd has a future with AC/DC. The band is currently using Welsh drummer Chris Slade for its Rock or Bust album tour.