Christopher Graham Smith, from Christchurch, will spend at least seven years behind bars for the attempted murder of a police dog handler, wounding another officer, and killing a police dog named Gage.
The 36-year-old process worker will serve a period of no parole for seven years.
In July of last year Senior Constable Bruce Lamb and Constable Mitchel Alatalo smelled cannabis outside Smith’s home, and entered the property after announcing themselves as police.
Smith said he believed he was confronting intruders trying to steal his large in-home cannabis growing operation.
Smith shot Lamb in the face as the officer had entered Smith’s bedroom, smashing Lamb’s jaw into 15 pieces.
Smith then shot and killed the police dog Gage when he came to his handler’s aid.
Alatalo tried to escape out the window but was shot as well.
Lamb, despite a bullet wound and broken jaw, managed to leave the premises with Gage on a lead, but did not realize his dog was dead until he reached the driveway outside.
Police later found 26 cannabis plants, 18 seedlings and 400 grams of drying cannabis leaves inside Smith’s home along with scales and bags.
Justice Whata said Smith had not expressed enough remorse to warrant reducing his sentence.
