The man was sleeping in his bed when Jemima Wasson came into his room with a knife and frying pan. Photo / 123rf
The man was sleeping in his bed when Jemima Wasson came into his room with a knife and frying pan. Photo / 123rf
A man asleep in bed was woken in the early morning by a naked woman holding a large knife and beating him around the head with a frying pan.
The woman was his brother’s girlfriend, and she was high on methamphetamine at the time.
The attack happened shortly before 4amin August 2023, when the man, identified in a court decision only as “Mr S”, was asleep at his home in Bayswater, Auckland.
Jemima Wasson had started a relationship with Mr S’ brother, who lived at the same property.
The man suffered lacerations to his left ear, the top of his head and the bridge of his nose, which was left tender and swollen.
“Ms Wasson has subsequently explained in her evidence that she does not remember much of the event because she was high on methamphetamine and had not slept in days,” High Court Justice Laura O’Gorman said.
“At the time she believed she had to attack Mr S to keep her place in the house.”
Wasson was later convicted and sentenced to 18 months of intensive supervision on charges of assault with a weapon, along with resisting and assaulting police officers.
The charges of assaulting and resisting police stemmed from a separate incident, in November 2023.
Three police officers went to a property in Westmere, Auckland, looking for Wasson.
One of the officers told her she was under arrest and directed her to put her hands behind her back to be handcuffed.
Wasson refused so “light pain compliance techniques” were used to make her comply.
Spat into police officer’s mouth
Wasson was then lifted up from a bed, at which point she looked up and spat directly into the mouth of one of the police officers.
Wasson has sought a discharge without conviction for her offending, telling the courts that being convicted would have a “detrimental impact” on her ambition to work as a teacher.
Her lawyer also argued that a conviction would impact on her mental health and rehabilitative prospects.
However, at sentencing in the North ShoreDistrict Court, Judge Evangelos Thomas said that a discharge was inappropriate because of the gravity of the offending.
It would also be an “appalling insult to the victim”, he said.
Justice Laura O'Gorman declined the appeal against conviction. Photo / Supplied
Wasson appealed against her conviction to the High Court, submitting fresh evidence outlining her mental health and addiction issues.
But Justice O’Gorman said the end sentence of intensive supervision supported, rather than inhibited, Wasson’s support and treatment.
In regard to future teacher registration, the judge said the police vetting procedures would uncover her “complex mental history and this offending conduct” regardless of whether a conviction was maintained or not.
“I consider the conviction is a challenging but important part of promoting in Ms Wasson accountability, a sense of responsibility for and an acknowledgement of the harm caused, and ensuring that Ms Wasson engages in meaningful reflection and rehabilitation before seeking teacher registration,” Justice O’Gorman said.
She dismissed the appeal against conviction.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.
