Frustrated lunch visitor hits support worker over head with shopping bag

A support worker at the Male Room in Nelson was hit over the head with a shopping bag by a man upset he wasn't allowed to eat leftover lamb for lunch. Photo / Tracy Neal

When he couldn’t have a helping of lamb, Gavin Robert Temiha hit a support worker over the head with a shopping bag which contained a bottle of milk, before hitting him again in the face with a closed fist.

Temiha initially faced a charge of assault with a weapon, which was changed to an assault charge to which he pleaded guilty in the Nelson District Court today, along with another charge of common assault.

Temiha was at a centre which advocates for men’s wellbeing, the Nelson Male Room, last December when he assaulted the support worker.

The police said it happened about lunchtime last December 12, when Temiha tried to take food that was for everyone.

Temiha’s lawyer, Steven Zindel, said it was leftover lamb he claimed to have been told by the supervisor he could have, but the person he assaulted was not that particular supervisor.

“He was frustrated and had also been drinking,” said Zindel, who noted Temiha had since apologised and had been trespassed from the Male Room, where he had now burned his bridges.

The Male Room works closely with men in the Nelson community who are survivors of physical and emotional abuse, to ensure they have access to a sustainable national network of appropriate high-quality support services.

The police told the court today that when Temiha was told he couldn’t have the food he reacted by swinging the shopping bag of groceries at the victim, hitting him in the head.

Temiha then hit the worker in the side of the face with a closed fist.

Temiha was removed from the premises and trespassed.

Judge Jo Rielly said that given the circumstances and “common attitudes to the wonderful people” who ran the Male Room, she remanded Temiha for restorative justice, to appear in court again next month.