The partner of a Whangarei paraplegic tipped him out of his wheelchair, ripped out his catheter and threw the chair at him in a prolonged attack for which she has been jailed for four years.
The imbalance of power in their relationship was highlighted by Judge John Clapham as he yesterday sentenced Shereen Moana Hauraki in the Whangarei District Court on two charges arising from the May 20 attack.
Judge Clapham said the lengthy application of force on the helpless victim had escalated to the stage where Hauraki lunged at Ted Kahuiariki with a knife in each hand.
The 37-year-old caregiver had pulled out a large breadknife and a smaller knife from a kitchen drawer.
She then stood above the 33-year-old Mr Kahuiariki and stabbed him in the stomach.
Judge Clapham sentenced her to four years in prison for injuring with intent to injure, and a concurrent three years for assault with a weapon.
He had reduced the sentence by 18 months because Hauraki pleaded guilty.
Judge Clapham said that on the day of the assault Hauraki and the complainant had been drinking in their Whangarei home with friends.
Hauraki became angry and the friends left.
There was a disagreement and Mr Kahuiariki wheeled himself down the hallway to avoid a confrontation, Judge Clapham said.
Hauraki pursued him into the kitchen and punched him around the head.
She tipped him out of his wheelchair, and the stove fell on him as he tried to get off the floor.
"He was helpless," Judge Clapham said.
Mr Kahuiariki tried to escape and Hauraki ripped the catheter from his body and went for him with a piece of glass.
She smashed a table and attacked him with its leg, then picked up his wheelchair and threw it at him.
Judge Clapham said Hauraki threw pot plants at the man and poured dirt over him.
Mr Kahuiariki dragged himself across the floor to the kitchen door, where Hauraki grabbed him by the arms and pulled him down the steps.
She then dragged him about 8m up the driveway and pushed his wheelchair past him.
Judge Clapham said that in an almost superhuman effort, Mr Kahuiariki had wheeled himself to a shop about 100m away.
While the owner rang police, Hauraki arrived and started abusing him, and tried to stop the call. The bleeding Mr Kahuiariki then pushed himself to a service station, where the police were again called.
The couple had met about five years ago, after Mr Kahuiariki was paralysed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident.
Defence lawyer Wayne McKean said Hauraki had been Mr Kahuiariki's fulltime caregiver for those five years, waiting on him hand and foot 24 hours a day.
Mr McKean said she had been at breaking point for months and snapped on the day, under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
"It was not premeditated, but an out-of-control, frenzied attack."
However, Judge Clapham said Hauraki had breached her position of trust as a caregiver.
Four years' jail for attack on paraplegic
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