Man denies sending Sue Bradford death threat

Sunday News

WORRYING TIME: Sue Bradford has received death threats.

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A seriously ill man accused of sending MP Sue Bradford death threats says his Twitter account was hacked and he never sent the MP threatening messages.

Henk van Helmond, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and a heart condition, says his life has been made "hell" since Ms Bradford told media outlets of death threats made against her on the internet.

Mr van Helmond says his Twitter account was hacked and the message had been sent to Ms Bradford without his knowledge.

The Twitter message had said Ms Bradford was a good candidate for New Zealand’s first political assassination.

"Someone got into my account and made these death threats, I know it wasn’t me. I'm a pacifist, I don't believe in violence, I have MS and a heart condidtion, why would I make a comment like that?"

Mr van Helmond says his account was "picked on" because he hosts website CYFSwatch and is "absolutely anti her bill."

He said he had already apologised to Mrs Bradford on the website and sent out a tweet explaining the situation.

"I apologised to her because it came from my account, even though I didn’t say it, I caused it to be said."

Mr van Helmond said he had not been contacted by the police.

"If Sue had allowed police to do their job, this whole thing could have been sorted out straight away and the media wouldn’t have been involved.

"Sue is too keen on publicity of any kind, she's a media hound."

Mr van Helmond says he has no idea who would hack into his account, but has changed his passwords to prevent it happening again.

Kiwi Party leader and pro-smacking advocate Larry Baldock told Radio New Zealand this morning he did "certainly not condone" the threats Ms Bradford had received.

He said he had not received such threats himself but had been the recipient of obscene and threatening emails.

Ms Bradford said she had not spoken with police about the tweet from Mr van Helmond’s account and was unsure of further action.

KEY SLAMS THREAT

Prime Minister John Key today said there was "no place" for threats to politicians in New Zealand politics.

Mr Key said New Zealand prided itself on having "fierce debates", but "we don't resort to political assassination".

"People write stupid comments on social networking sites, so I don't know whether there's anything really sinister behind it, but there's no place for it in our political debate," he told Newstalk ZB.

- © Fairfax NZ News