EXCLUSIVE: ‘My dad is a good guy, he wouldn’t harm anyone’: Family of AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd break their silence as he faces drugs and threats to kill charges
The family of AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd have broken their silence for the first time since his controversial arrest in New Zealand last week.
His son, Thomas Rudd, defended his father on Sunday night – four days after the legendary rocker appeared in court on charges, which also included possession of amphetamines and cannabis.
‘All I will say is that my dad is a good guy. He’s not perfect but wouldn’t harm anyone,’ he told Daily Mail Australia from Europe.
On Thursday, Rudd appeared in court with no shoes on, just hours after New Zealand police searched his house in Tauranga – 200km south-east of Auckland – on the North Island.
Rudd was charged with procuring a man to murder two other men between September 25 and 26 and with threatening to kill on September 26. He was also charged with possession of amphetamines and cannabis.
Crown Solicitor Greg Hollister-Jones ruled there was insufficient evidence to justify those charges. He still faces the threat to kill charge.
Since then details have emerged of the reclusive musician’s lavish lifestyle, which include claims of group sex from prostitutes and luxury cars, but photos on his daughter’s social media page paint a very different picture of Rudd as a family man.
Images posted on Facebook show Rudd to be a loving father who is close to and enjoys the company of his children.
In one photo from 2012, Phil Rudd is seen surrounded by five of his offspring at a birthday party as well as a woman believed to be his ex-wife.
‘Beautiful family, your wife and kids are the sweetest people, glad to know you all,’ one friend commented on the post.
A more recent photograph from March shows Phil Rudd with a pair of sunglasses on smiling into the camera with his three daughters.
While others, ranging from 2012 to earlier this year, show him posing with his arms around his children.
