Budding young rugby player off field for three months after violent city assault

A man was left with serious injuries to his face and head after he was set upon during a night out in Nelson last December. Photo / Tracy Neal

A budding young rugby player will be off the field for the next three months, shackled by an electronic bracelet unlikely to withstand the ruck and maul of the sports field.

Thomas Rohi Smith has been sentenced to three months’ community detention for an assault on a man in Nelson who was now too afraid to come back into town.

Judge Jo Rielly said it was a shame Smith would not be able to play rugby while serving his sentence, but the interests of justice came first.

Smith earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to injure, after the assault late last year, and unlawfully carrying an imitation firearm he was seen waving from the window of a car in which he was a passenger.

Smith had found salvation from a life of dysfunction and crime in his newfound love of sport and in the church, helped by family members who had embraced him, but he slipped up again in December while drinking at a central city bar, the Nelson District Court heard today.

The 22-year-old who played B-grade rugby in Nelson was recently deported back to New Zealand from Australia where he had spent the past few years, including time in prison for assault.

At about 1.45am on December 17, Smith and the victim, who were not known to each other, were outside a bar in central Nelson.

Several men were suddenly verbally aggressive toward the victim, who was sitting on a nearby concrete seat, when Smith stepped forward and shoved him.

The victim knocked his head on the concrete seat as he fell over then slumped on the footpath, barely conscious.

The confrontation continued, involving more men at that point, which required security staff to intervene.

Smith then moved up behind the victim and punched him twice in the side of the head before dragging him onto the road by his collar, where he punched him again.

Several others joined in on the attack, as the man lay on the ground. He was left with a broken nose, two black eyes, bruises on his body, and a cut on the back of his head.

The offending was captured by CCTV, the police summary of facts said.

“It was his first time out at night in a while, and he won’t be back any time soon,” Judge Rielly noted.

On January 13 this year, and while on bail for the assault, Smith was a passenger in a black BMW heading toward Richmond, and was seen by the public waving a BB gun from the window.

Police soon found him at a nearby address where he told them he’d been “just mucking around with it, out the window”.

The court heard today how Smith had been making good headway, having recently got a new job, was being guided by extended family who’d been “doing everything to keep him on the straight and narrow”, and with support from the church they were involved with.

“I hope you understand how much you are at a turning point in your life,” Judge Rielly said.

She said home detention was not necessary when Smith was otherwise doing well, with the support he had.

Smith was also sentenced to nine months of supervision, which included a rehabilitation component and was ordered to pay $400 emotional harm reparation to the victim.