A Waimangaroa man who denied assaulting his son by sitting on the teenager and grabbing him around the neck has been found guilty.
The man, who represented himself, appeared in Westport District Court yesterday defending two charges of assault.
The News has chosen not to name the father or the son.
The charges were laid after an altercation between the man and his 16-year-old son at the Waimangaroa property where they lived on April 12 last year.
Father and son told the court different versions of what happened.
The man claimed he sat on his son in an attempt to calm him down after he "threw a tantrum" about being asked to do a chore. His acted in self-defence because his son was acting violently, he said. He claimed never to have laid his hand around his son's neck.
However, his son claimed his father was the violent one, throwing him to the ground, sitting on top of him and forcing his hands around his neck in a strangling motion.
A few hours after the altercation, the son left the property and met a number of friends including one man who gave evidence in court that he had seen red hand marks around the boy's neck the day of the incident.
The father told the court the man was lying and only said he saw the marks because [the witness] "had it in" for him.
Four days after the incident, the boy went to the Westport Police Station to report it. On June 15, Granity-based police constable Greg Sherie, who also gave evidence in court yesterday, told the father of the allegations and offered him the opportunity to make a statement.
Mr Sherie described the father as being upset, verbally aggressive and refusing to give an official statement. He said the father told him "charge me or f... off".
After reviewing the file and the comments the man to him, he decided to charge the man, Mr Sherie said.
The man denied being made aware of the allegations. He told the court Mr Sherie was lying.
Judge Tony Couch said that, based on corroborative evidence given by the son and the witness, he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the father had placed his hands around his son's neck. On that charge, he convicted the man and sentenced him to 80 hours' community work.
He dropped the other assault charge relating to an earlier part of the altercation. He said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt whose account was true.
WPN er