Jail for breaching protection orders

Joseph Albert Wharehinga, 47, and Owen Martin Crawford, 53, were both separately sentenced to six months' imprisonment on breaching protection order charges.

Two middled-aged Masterton men have been jailed for breaching protection orders, with one convicted of assault.

Joseph Albert Wharehinga, 47, and Owen Martin Crawford, 53, were both separately sentenced to six months' imprisonment with leave to apply for home detention when they appeared before Judge Pat Grace in Masterton District Court on Thursday.

Both previously pleaded guilty to breaching the orders and Crawford also pleaded guilty to a charge of male assaults female.

Crawford's lawyer James Elliott said his client was no longer with his partner who he had assaulted and verbally abused at their home in front of two grandchildren aged 3 and 4 years old on November 13 last year.

He was prepared to undertake a stop violence programme and address substance abuse issues, Mr Elliott said. "At the age of 53 I would hope ... the message is starting to get through."

Judge Grace said Crawford started abusing the victim because he couldn't find something he was looking for and she asked him to wait. "You swung your leg and kicked her in the head ... she saw stars ... this is a dangerous area of the body. You could have caused permanent injury ... you got out of bed on the wrong side that morning."

Crawford left the house returning later, threatening the woman as he drove up the driveway.

It was abuse the children shouldn't have been exposed to, the judge said. "Children who witness violence are affected by that violence."

Wharehinga's defence lawyer Ian Hard had asked the court to consider time served for his client as he had been in custody for the past 49 days. He handed two letters up to the judge from Wharehinga and Mr Hard said he had insight and was remorseful for his actions on January 4 when he stabbed a carving knife into a wall, threatening his partner of four years.

The incident occurred after Wharehinga heard the woman on a phone talking and accused her of having an affair, soon confronting her with the carving knife and stopping her from leaving the property for hours.

Judge Grace said it was a terrifying ordeal for the woman who had since left the region. Both men were sentenced to six months' jail with six months' post release conditions to undergo stop violence and drug and alcohol programmes.