Man jailed after ninth family harm incident

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A man has been jailed for an incident where his two children watched as he dragged their mother alongside his car during an argument over cigarettes.

She was taken by ambulance to hospital after being dragged for about six metres along the road in front of her house. She suffered extensive bruising and grazing to one side of her body.

The man had already punched her in the head before getting in the car, slamming the door shut, revving the engine, then grabbing her through his open window, Gisborne District Court was told.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said the incident was made worse by the presence of the couple’s children — a two-year-old and a four-month-old.

The man, whose name is withheld to protect the identities of the children, subsequently pleaded guilty to injuring with intent to injure and assaulting someone in a family relationship.

Judge O’Driscoll jailed him for 28 months. The sentence also covered breaches of prison release conditions.

Counsel Heather Vaughn said a restorative justice report made it clear the man’s use of illicit drugs was a major force in his offending.

He had complex needs as he suffered from ADHD and had anger issues, for which he’d only just received help as part of a prison term last year.

He had since been receiving treatment for his ADHD while on remand in custody, which had helped him gain clarity about his offending.

A pre-sentence report writer expressed concern about the man’s intention to go back to his partner upon his release, but he was only referring to the need for them to have contact due to their parenting situation, Ms Vaughn said.

Judge O’Driscoll noted there was no victim impact statement before the court, which would have enabled him to better assess the consequences of the offending on the victim.

These were the man’s eighth and ninth convictions for family violence. He had been in a relationship with the woman for several years and was sentenced last September for strangling and assaulting her. He had also been convicted the year before for other domestic violence against her.

The pre-sentence report writer said the man felt “entitled” and had attempted to minimise his conduct.

He was assessed as being a high risk of harm in the future and imprisonment was recommended.

The judge set a sentence starting point of two-and-a-half years imprisonment, uplifting it by six months for the man’s previous relevant offending and a further three months because he had been on release conditions at the time.

Deductions totalled 11 months —seven for his guilty pleas and four for his participation in restorative justice, at which he apologised to the woman.

However, Judge O’Driscoll said, “You can say sorry and that you’re remorseful, but if you continue to assault the mother of your children — your partner — it will indicate you have little or no remorse and a continuing sense of entitlement. Actions always speak louder than words and if you’re truly remorseful, you must do all you can in custody to address the causes of your anger through anger management or some other type of programme”.

Any programmes or courses the man did would be taken into account when he came up for parole.

Wiping the man’s fines debt of about $1500, the judge said it would give him a clean slate when released.