Cricket bat attack: Victim says it was her fault

A woman who was brutally beaten with a cricket bat by her husband has protected him in court. Photo / Thinkstock

A woman who was brutally beaten with a cricket bat and strangled while she lay unconscious has told a court her husband's actions were her fault.

After the attack, the couple's flatmate said he would call an ambulance but Daljit Singh told him to "let her die".

The victim, who has name suppression, begged Justice Nicholas Davidson to release her partner of six years Singh so he could rejoin her and their two young children.

"I can't throw away six years of marriage over one mistake."

Despite the severity of the assault, which took place nearly a year ago at their Sandringham home, the woman told the High Court at Auckland she would not have reported the incident to the police.

"The children often ask why they cannot talk to their father and I can't bring myself to tell them he's in prison ... for something I played a part in, at least that's how I feel," she said.

"I can't throw away six years of marriage over one mistake."

But Justice Davidson jailed Singh for three and a half years on charges of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault with a weapon and threatening to kill.

He said he had taken into account her statement as much as the law allowed but remarked on the "callous indifference" shown by the defendant after the violence.

Defence counsel Martin Hislop accepted it was inevitable his client would be deported to India once a third of the sentence had been served.

In the early hours of July 28, Singh was at home in Sandringham with his wife and their flatmate.

He saw the pair under a blanket on the couch, watching a movie together and asked the woman to get up.

When Singh pulled the blanket off them, he noticed his wife's hip was slightly exposed and he became enraged.

He launched an attack, kicking her in the stomach before grabbing a cricket bat and swinging at the victim.

The flatmate intervened and sustained two blows to the thigh, sending him to the floor.

While he lay there, Singh continued the assault on his wife, finally knocking her out with a shot to the head.

The tenant wrestled the bat from the defendant but he pounced on the unconscious woman again, strangling her as "her tongue hung limply from her mouth and her eyes rolled backwards into her head".

"I'm going to kill you tonight," Singh screamed.

Their flatmate said he would call an ambulance but Singh told him to "just let her die".

Justice Davidson said she suffered cuts and bruises but there was no long-term effect on her health.

A letter of remorse was read to the court this morning in which Singh apologised to the victims.

"I made a huge mistake in my life due to anger and Indian mentality," he wrote. "I realise my actions were stupid."

Justice Davidson told Singh the attack was "on someone much smaller than you, entirely vulnerable and defenceless".

Reports before the court showed little insight into his offending and a sense of entitlement, the judge said, but he discounted the sentence for the sincerity behind the letter.

"This is the time for you to reflect on the charity and forgiveness shown by [the victim]," he said.

"She forgives you but it's up to you to show and prove you're worthy of her support."