Daniel Harris at his sentencing in the Wellington District Court. Photo / Catherine Hutton
Warning: this story contains details about violent offending.
A “dangerous” man who struck one man over the head with a hammer and later broke a prison officer’s jaw , has acknowledged he needs to stop the angry outbursts and manage his responses better.
“I don’t mean to hurt people about things that don’t even matter. I don’t mean to be like that. I don’t want to be that person,” Daniel Harris told a court on Thursday, adding that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail.
The 29-year-old was sentenced in the Wellington District Court after admitting six charges that arose from two incidents in 2024.
According to the summary of facts, the offending began in April of that year, when Harris entered the laundry at the rear of a property in Porirua, north of Wellington.
Harris removed a lockable safe from the laundry, containing a journal, school book and clothing.
He picked up the safe and threw it over the back fence. When asked by the owner of that property what he was doing, he said, “I always stomp these grounds.”
He kept walking through backyards, carrying the safe, at one point kicking down a fence, until he arrived at the property of a 61-year-old man, whom he knew.
Harris told the man, who was gardening, that he wanted to have a chat inside “about a financial issue” he thought the man could help him with.
The two went inside and, while the man sat at his table, Harris stood over him and became angry, yelling at the man and telling him that he had been, “F****** talking s*** about me behind my back”.
The victim said he wouldn’t have anything to say.
Harris then pulled out a hammer, telling the victim, “Shut the f***, I’ll smash your f****** head in with this hammer”.
According to the summary, the terrified victim froze. It was then that Harris saw the victim’s wallet, phone and car keys sitting on the table and picked them up.
Ignoring the man’s pleas to return them, Harris walked outside to the man’s car, which he tried to start but couldn’t get the keys into the ignition. The two began fighting, until neighbours intervened and retrieved the man’s keys.
At this point, Harris walked away, only to return when the man yelled at him to return his wallet and drop the hammer.
Harris struck the man with the hammer on the back of his head and twice assaulted the man on his arms during the struggle, before neighbours again intervened.
Harris walked away still carrying the man’s wallet and was arrested the following day at a Porirua park where he was found carrying two screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and a large meat cleaver-style knife.
A month later, while on remand for those matters, Harris punched a prison officer in Rimutaka Prison.
According to the summary, Harris became angry at being told he couldn’t move into a cell with another prisoner because he had a “Not to Double Bunk” notice on his file.
Ignoring a request to step back, Harris instead went up to the officer’s face and told him he needed to apologise.
Without warning, Harris punched the officer, breaking the man’s jaw and glasses.
The court heard the officer now has a permanent metal plate in his head and had a wisdom tooth removed. He was in a lot of pain, had to avoid contact sports and experienced both mental and financial stress as a result of the assault.
Crown prosecutor Sebastian Hartley sought a sentence of four years’ jail, telling Judge Bill Hastings that Harris was “a dangerous man and any sentence should include a degree of deterrence and community protection”.
In contrast, Harris’ lawyer, Tony Bamford, submitted a sentence of two and a half years’ jail would be appropriate, adding that his client expressed a genuine wish to change.
“The simple point is he accepts he’s had a long-standing issue with drug addiction which he needs to address,” Bamford said.
Judge Hastings noted the aggravating features of the offending.
His first victim, who thought he had “a good casual relationship” with Harris, suffered bruising and a cut to the back of his head and multiple tears to his arms and hands.
The prison officer will have the metal plate in his head for the rest of his life.
In mitigation, the judge referred to an affidavit filed by his lawyer, noting his mother was observed taking drugs and alcohol during his pregnancy. As a child, he’d also witnessed assaults on his mother by an abusive partner.
The court heard that one night his grandparents had found him unwell and sleeping inside a drawer; his mother was prevented from seeking medical attention for him by her partner. His grandparents took him to a doctor before taking him to live with them. In court, Harris expressed surprise at some of the details, saying he hadn’t heard them before.
An alcohol and drug report noted that Harris had a severe methamphetamine disorder, but there had also been a lack of engagement with previous sentences and rehabilitative interventions.
Judge Hastings said he was prepared to give a discount as a result of Harris’ indication he wanted rehabilitation, his addiction and his adverse upbringing. But he was not prepared to give a discount for remorse, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to do so.
On two charges of unlawfully being in a yard, robbery, wounding with intent to injure, possession of an offensive weapon and causing grievous bodily harm to a corrections officer with intent to injure, Harris was jailed for three years, four months and 14 days.
Harris spent much of the hearing challenging the facts on which he was being sentenced, but after Judge Hastings handed down the sentence, Harris thanked him for his consideration, saying, “Do the crime, do the time.”
The judge concluded the sentencing by telling Harris he hoped he would see a leading specialist in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
“Mr Harris, I really hope that at the end of this sentence, or even as part of it, you are seen by Dr (Valerie) McGinn, I think that will really help you going forward,” he said.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.