AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was the focus of international attention on Thursday after New Zealand police arrested him for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill two men. However, the charges have now been dropped, with police saying there isn’t enough evidence to back them up.
Rudd, 60, was in a New Zealand courtroom on Thursday after police had raided his Tauranga home. But today, the New Zealand Herald is reporting that the murder-for-hire charges were withdrawn.
“I was advised by the Crown Solicitor Hollister-Jones that he had reviewed the police file and the available evidence to support the charge of attempting to procure murder,” Rudd’s lawyer, Paul Mabey, told the media. “He had formed the view that there was insufficient evidence to justify that charge. He has now withdrawn the charge.”
The alleged hitman, whose name was not reported, told the Herald that he is a “family man” and was not angry with police, who were just doing their job.
Obviously, Mabey isn’t quite ready to shrug the incident off as easily, suggesting that the charges should never have been filed. Rudd “suffered unnecessary and extremely damaging publicity as a result of widespread and sensational reporting of a very serious allegation, which, on any basis, was never justified,” Mabey said.
MTV News does note that Rudd is still being charged for threatening to kill someone and possession of meth and cannabis. He will be back in court on Nov. 7 and faces a seven-year jail sentence if convicted on the threatening charge.
AC/DC is releasing a new album at the end of the year and will be touring next year.