The man pleaded guilty to four assault charges of assault on a child — two of them involving a child aged under 14, and one involving a sharp weapon.
One of the charges was representative of multiple offences, the others arising out of single incidents.
Community detention and intensive supervision were recommended for the man by the probation service but Judge Cathcart said it would not sufficiently meet the gravity of the offending. This type of offending involving children needed to be met with strongly deterrent sentences. A soft sentence would send the wrong message to others who might similarly offend.
The lead offence of assault with a sharp weapon arose out of an incident earlier this year in which the man accused one of his sons of taking something. The boy was asleep when the man woke him and confronted him with a knife, holding it to his throat, and threatening to cut off his fingers for stealing.
The boy managed to wrestle his father off, suffering only minor cuts and scratches to his arm.
He fled to a friend’s house. Later, interviewed by police, the boy disclosed further offending by his father.
During the past four years, he and his brothers were regularly hit by their father, who often used sticks and other objects in his assaults on them, the boy said.
That boy was previously hit about the head. His brothers were struck on their arms, legs, back, shoulders, and stomach, which sometimes resulted in marks and bruises.
They were regularly hit about twice a week, their father justifying it by saying they had disobeyed or done “dumb things”. They were sometimes hit in public to humiliate them.
One of the boys told police he was hit with a jandal and wooden spoon for trivial matters such as doing the dishes incorrectly or feeding some of the family’s animals the wrong way.
Judge Cathcart said it was to the man’s credit he readily admitted the offending when questioned about it, saying he just “got angry”, that he was remorseful, and had struggled to bring up three teenage boys on his own.
Calculating the sentence, the judge set a starting point of 28 months’ imprisonment. He noted aggravating factors such as the gross breach of trust involved, the use of weapons, and the prolonged period of the offending.
There was a full 25 percent discount for the man’s guilty pleas and a further month’s discount for remorse.
Converting the sentence to home detention, the judge noted the man had no previous relevant convictions and due to his insight and remorse, was assessed as being at low risk of reoffending.
The man had since taken steps to change his attitude.
Oranga Tamariki had no ongoing care and protection concerns for the boys, who were now with whanau. However, Judge Cathcart said it was important the boys were not returned to their father while he was on home detention.
