AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has been sentenced to eight months home detention by a New Zealand court after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs.
Rudd, 61, has been on bail since his arrest last November and pleaded guilty in April to the charges, which carried a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.
Reuters reports that the prosecution asked for a minimum jail term of 18 months.
The Australian-born musician will be allowed authorised visits during his home detention but will also be monitored electronically.
Rudd's lawyer told the court his client had been under stress at the time of the offence and under the influence of drugs, and described the incident as just an angry phone call.
He said a conviction might result in Rudd losing tens of millions of dollars in future earnings, and asked for a discharge without conviction.
The judge, however, said the incident was more than an angry phone call and that Rudd had been found with a substantial amount of drugs. However, he accepted that Rudd had reconciled with the target of his anger and had paid compensation.
An original charge of trying to procure murder was dropped for lack of evidence. The charges arose from Rudd's anger about the launch of his solo album, which had not gone well.
Rudd has lived in the seaside city of Tauranga, about 200km southeast of Auckland, since he was sacked from AC/DC in 1983. He rejoined AC/DC in 1994 but has remained in New Zealand, where he owns a restaurant.
The band played Dublin's Aviva last week with Chris Slade on drums. Slade was AC/DC's drummer between 1989 and 1994, played on album The Razor’s Edge.
