WARNING: Some people find the details of this story distressing.

A mentally unwell man who led police on a late night chase around Paeroa in his house bus – before smearing them with his own faeces – was found to have been insane at the time.

The 56-year-old man, who cannot be named, appeared in the Hamilton District Court facing charges of assaulting police, reckless driving, failing to stop for police, assault with a weapon – namely the house bus – and driving while unlicensed.

While the police had good evidence to back up their charges, Judge Glen Marshall also had the benefit of two psychiatric reports that found that, when the incident happened in the early hours of January 5, the man was not able to realise his actions were morally wrong.

As the summary of facts on his case reveals, a police patrol happened upon the man's Isuzu Journey house bus on Puke Rd at 12.05am.

A few weeks earlier, on Christmas Day, he had been forbidden from driving until he obtained an appropriate drivers' licence.

The police did not know this, and instead attempted to pull him over for 'an unrelated matter” that was not disclosed in the summary.

The man failed to stop, and began driving around the town's central business district in a loop, swerving in and out of the correct lane and at speeds between 20 and 60kph.

On Willoughby St, outside the entrance of the Paeroa Domain, he stopped and reversed in an attempt to ram the pursuing police car, which had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

A police car had to take evasive action when the house bus was driven at it, as did a nearby motorbike rider.

After looping around the park he then drove at a motorbike rider who was on a footpath and had to move inside the domain's gates to dodge the bus.

After about 15 minutes the man stopped in the middle of Normandy Rd and was ordered to get out of the bus. He refused and responded by closing all the curtains on the bus.

As the police attempted to gain entry to the vehicle he held the door closed, before proceeding to smear his own faeces over the door and the surrounding area, as well as the two officers themselves.

He then threw items out of the windows of the bus and barricaded the door.

Eventually, he exited via the front passenger window, but had to be subdued as he was arrested.

As the summary notes, while no-one was injured during the incident, the two officers 'were covered in a significant amount of the defendant's faeces”.

He told the police he had been 'trying to run over wild pigs” – referring to a group of youths who had earlier been harassing him.

In court, Judge Marshall took account of psychiatrists' reports, organised by the man's counsel Kerry Burroughs, that deemed him unfit to plead.

He had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and had a long history of mental unwellness. Although acutely unwell at the time of the incident, he had improved rapidly once he began taking prescribed medication.

After being found not guilty by reason of insanity, the man was remanded as a patient at a mental health facility under the auspices of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.

-Mike Mather/Stuff.