Sentenced: AC/DC drummer will be rockin’ the house for the next 8 months

Former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has avoided a prison sentence after threatening to kill a former employee and being found with drugs. The 61-year-old was facing up to seven years in jail after pleading guilty to the charges, which included possession of meth and marijuana. But a judge in New Zealand instead sentenced the Australian-born drummer to eight months’ home detention, which will include 24-hour monitoring at his home. Judge Thomas Ingram dismissed an argument from Rudd’s legal team that he was needed by the band, saying AC/DC had continued to tour without him.

Half the time I didn’t know who was in my house … and what substances they had with them.

Phil Rudd

The musician made no comment as he left the sentencing hearing in the city of Tauranga, apart from swearing at reporters. An appeal has been filed. Rudd was said to have offered large amounts of cash, vehicles and a house to an acquaintance after asking for the victim to be “taken out.” The threats came weeks after Rudd threw a party at his marina restaurant, Phil’s Place, last August to celebrate his solo album “Head Job,” court papers said. He fired a number of staff members, including the victim, over the way the event went. Against the backdrop of his legal troubles, Rudd was dropped from AC/DC and their former drummer, Chris Slade, was rehired for this year’s “Rock or Bust” world tour.

You’re a relatively fragile man who has felt bound to live the rock star lifestyle

Judge Ingram

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