AC/DC Drummer Phil Rudd Gets Home Detention

Phil Rudd

Phil Rudd, a drummer with rock group AC/DC, has been sentenced in New Zealand to eight months in house detention for drug possession and making threats to kill.

The BBC reports the Australian-born Rudd, 61, had originally denied the charges but changed his plea in April.

He threatened to "take out" a former employee, the court heard.

When police went to question him over the threats they found a stash of marijuana and methamphetamine.

His sentence will be served at his beachfront home in Tauranga, with Judge Thomas Ingram warning he would be face jail if he breached the conditions, New Zealand media reported.

He had faced a jail term of up to seven years for the threat charges.

Arriving at court, Rudd made no comment to reporters but thanked fans for their support.

Rudd telephoned an associate in Australia saying he wanted one of those former employees "taken care of", said court documents.

In another call he offered the associate "$135,000, a motorbike, one of his cars or a house", which the man believed would be in exchange for carrying out the request.

Rudd also called the victim of the threat, saying: "I'm going to come over and kill you."

Rudd's lawyer had said the threats were "just an angry phone call"