Attacker's freedom upsets victim's family

Patrick Ikinofo, pictured with girlfriend Viktoriya Ivanova has escaped penalty despite punching a former police officer. Photo / Supplied

The family of a former police officer punched to the ground a few metres from his Herne Bay home are angry the man responsible has been allowed to walk free.

Wayne Harris remains in a brain rehabilitation unit almost a year after he was knocked unconscious in the upmarket Auckland suburb of Herne Bay while walking home from the pub.

His partner Sarah Murray said she was angry and upset that Patrick Ikinofo, 23, was discharged from one count of wounding with intent to injure.

She said: "Wayne has spent his life protecting our community."

Detectives told Murray there was a strong chance Ikinofo would be acquitted on the grounds of self-defence if the case went to trial.

Harris, 56, has no recollection of the attack and has been unable to tell detectives what happened.

Ikinofo claimed Harris crossed the road to confront him after the pair began trading insults on August 15 last year.

Harris' skull was fractured and he spent a week in a coma. He is being treated in a specialist brain rehabilitation clinic for post-traumatic amnesia.

Sarah Murray said: "Wayne walked across the road but that's his nature. That's what detectives do, that's what people trained like that do.

"We see someone like that, we would stay on the other side of the road. But Wayne wasn't like that."

The 23-year-old accused of the attack was already on bail for previous offences at the time Harris was hit. Three weeks after the incident, Ikinofo was sentenced to three months' home detention for two counts each of common assault, wilful damage and shoplifting.

After his release, he travelled to the Pacific Island of Niue with his girlfriend Viktoriya Ivanova, where he was pictured strolling on white-sand beaches and jumping into the water.

Sarah Murray said she knew Ikinofo was "no angel" but was unaware he had been sentenced just weeks after his charges were dropped.

She said: "Nice that he can go on holiday because we won't be going on holiday any time soon."

Harris remains in care. "It's ongoing," said Murray. "It was a pretty serious injury. Part of the problem is that Wayne has not been well enough to give his side of the story.

"Maybe they waited to see if Wayne could remember what happened but that's never going to happen."

Harris, who has three children aged 19 to 24 from a previous relationship, worked as a police officer for more than 30 years in Auckland.

He moved to the Internal Affairs Department to become an investigator about five years ago.

Last year Ikinofo admitted to the Herald on Sunday he had struck Harris but said he had been provoked.

He insisted he was not a "bad ass". "There's always two sides to every story," he said. "I'm just saying we are both equally to blame."