No prison term for whipping pregnant partner

A Mount Maunganui man who whipped his pregnant partner with a power cord, threatened to slit her throat and cut the phone to stop her calling for help, has escaped a prison sentence.
Keegan Bryant, 20, was instead sentenced to 60 hours' community work and was ordered to pay his victim $100 _ a decision which has been condemned by those who are working to stamp out violence in our homes.
Tauranga District Court was told yesterday how Bryant's partner was three and months pregnant when she was subjected to a terrifying ordeal.
The woman, who was pregnant with her and Bryant's second child, was eventually able to run to a neighbour's flat where she called 111.
Bryant, a painter, initially denied threatening to kill his victim.
But in court yesterday he pleaded guilty to two charges of male assaults female, and one each of threatening to kill, intentional damage and possession of an offensive weapon.
The court was told that on July 20, Bryant was drinking with his associates at the small Mount Maunganui flat he shares with the victim and their two-year-old son.
His partner asked Bryant and his associates to leave.
Bryant returned to the flat the next day and forced his way in. When his partner told him to leave he pushed her, causing her to fall backwards on to the bed and was asked again to leave.
He then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and threatened her "I'm gunna **** slit your throat".
When the victim attempted to call police, Bryant pulled the telephone cord from the wall, then left and returned at 5am and went to sleep.
An argument ensued about 7.30am. He grabbed a power cord and whipped his pregnant victim across the back, leaving a large inflamed welt.
When she tried to call police, Bryant grabbed a knife and cut the power cord to the phone. She fled to a neighbour's flat to call police.
When police arrived Bryant admitted whipping his partner but denied threatening her with a knife, and told police he'd lost his temper as she had called him a "boy".
Threats to kill attract a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment and the assault charges two years in jail.
But Bryant's lawyer Liz Jamieson argued that because her client's actions were totally out of character, a community-based sentence was appropriate.
Bryant, who was remorseful, had already self-referred to a Living Without Violence course and was also undertaking drug and alcohol counselling, she said. Judge Harding told Bryant he was prepared to acknowledge the rehabilitative steps he'd had taken in his sentence but it had to be said that the victim impact statement made disturbing reading.
Bryant was sentenced to 60 hours' community work and must also undergo nine months of supervision. He was also ordered to pay his victim $100 reparation within 28 days. Hazel Hape, Tauranga Moana Women's Refuge services manager, said not only was Bryant beating his partner but was also hurting his unborn child.
"It's pretty serious. The bottom line is that kind of violence is just bull," she said.
Kathrina Boehm, women's programme co-ordinator for Tauranga Living Without Violence, said the sentence would most have looked totally different if that same assault had happened on a policeman.
EDITORIAL _ PAGE 9