KEY POINTS:
"Who threw the hedgehog?"
In a case that has attracted international attention, Judge Ian Thomas had to decide in Whakatane District Court yesterday whether 28-year-old William Singhlagah or someone else was guilty of assault with a weapon - namely a hedgehog, thrown at a 15-year-old boy.
The fate
of the hedgehog is unknown, but the victim was left with red welts after several quills became impaled in his hip.
At the end of a long day of listening to evidence about a man in bright orange track pants launching the hedgehog at the boy in an overarm throw, the judge declared the case, "Much ado about nothing in many respects".
He downgraded the charge to common assault and, after declaring Singhlagah guilty, ordered him to pay $500 in reparation to the victim and $130 in court costs.
A last-minute appearance by a defence witness who claimed it was he who threw the hedgehog also failed to persuade Judge Thomas of Singhlagah's innocence.
Singhlagah was also fined for pulling down his distinctive orange pants and exposing his bottom to the victim, after first threatening to throw the hedgehog at him a second time.
He was stopped on that occasion by the boy's mother, who witnessed the first throw and yelled at the 28-year-old, "Don't you dare".
The identity of the now 16-year-old victim is suppressed but he has earned the nickname "Sonic" - after the hedgehog cartoon character - as a result of the incident. He told reporters he was happy with the outcome of the case.
The boy was biking back from a skatepark with two friends on February 9 when they saw a group of four men on the road outside his mother's house, one of whom was playing with a hedgehog.
That man was Singhlagah and he threatened the boy by saying, "Do you want to wear a hedgehog helmet?"
Despite the boy insisting that he did not, Singhlagah hurled the hedgehog anyway, narrowly missing the boy's head.
Four quills lodged in his right hip but, asked if the wounds hurt, he said, "Not too much".
Police were reportedly unable to find the hedgehog when they returned later in the evening, but located Singhlagah in a nearby driveway.
"He admitted to having been in possession of a hedgehog," Constable Lyndon Reid said. "He originally claimed that the group had been playing hacky sack with it."
The victim and his mother faced tough questions from defence lawyer Rebecca Plunket about how they had identified Singhlagah as the hedgehog-thrower.
The boy's mother replied: "We all saw the orange pants. We told the police it was the orange pants."
Singhlagah had tried to argue that a person called "Shannon" had thrown the hedgehog, but then as the hearing drew to a close, the defence called a surprise witness, 21-year-old Philip Davies, who claimed he was responsible.
He said he had tried to hand himself into police a week later but was told he would "get done" for perverting the course of justice.
Judge Thomas dismissed his evidence as a lie, though he remained puzzled why Mr Davies wanted to take the rap.
The judge said it was unlikely the victim and his mother would mistake the culprit, considering the unusual nature of the assault.
He said the incident probably began as a joke, but could have caused serious injury because hedgehogs carry diseases.
Singhlagah would not comment after the verdict, but his aunt, who refused to be named, said he maintained his innocence. "He didn't do it. That boy [Mr Davies] did," she said.
For her, it was irrelevant that Mr Davies could not remember all the details of the incident. "He was pissed," she said. "He remembers throwing it."
