Asked why he had assaulted the officer, O'Keefe complained afterwards that the police had been on top of him, and he told an officer: "The constable helped me up and put handcuffs on me."
Judge Geoff Rea questioned why that would be an explanation, but otherwise commented little about the events.
When told by Hawke's Bay Today, Hawke's Bay-based New Zealand Police Association vice-president Luke Shadbolt said laws had been sharpened to include the jobs of police and correction officers as aggravating factors in sentencing of those assaulting them, because of increasing numbers of assaults on officers.
"But it's still hapening so often, it's still sometimes seen as just an occupational hazard," he said. "It wouldn't be acceptable in any other job. People don't expect to go to work and get assaulted."
"We are very mindful of the stress it places on the officers, but it is also stressful on their families, who shouldn't have to worry about their safety, and seeing them come home from work, with cuts and bruises, just from doing their job."
The job of police officer or prison officer was added to aggravating conditions of otherwise common assault as a result of an amendment to the Sentencing Act introduced to Parliament seven years ago.
The Minister of Police was Judith Collins who commented at the time the bill was introduced: "I'm confident that making assaults on Police or Corrections officers an aggravating factor at sentencing will help ensure that the courts impose heavy penalties for serious assaults on these people."
The officer assaulted in Napier had been a policeman more than 14 years, qualifying him as a Senior Constable, and he also had a young family, Mr Shadbolt said.
O'Keefe's previous convictions are understood to have not included any for assault, but did include possession of weapons, and property and driving offences.