Warning: This story contains information that may upset some readers
A woman who was stabbed at least 18 times outside a police station in a frenzied attack knew her only chance of survival was to try and fight back.
So, the badly injured woman grabbed the attacker’s 22cm knife by its blade, pulling it from James Tuwhangai’s hands with so much force it broke.
“No one will ever know the horror I faced that night and how I had to fight to stay alive,” she told the court today as the 23-year-old Tuwhangai was jailed for the meth-fuelled attack that came close to claiming her life.
The victim, who was today granted permanent name suppression, told the High Court at Hamilton she had not only been left with physical and mental scars, but the attack had impacted her job and her marriage.
She said she’d lost the sensation on the right side of her face and still had the scars from where Tuwhangai tried to slit her throat.
“Still to this day, I have absolutely no idea how I am still walking.
“What did I do to deserve this?,” she asked in her victim impact statement.
The woman also asked how she was meant to come back from such an ordeal.
“Even though I am alive, I lost a lot that night.”
She broke down soon after as Justice Layne Harvey revealed the details of the horror of that night during Tuwhangai’s sentencing on a charge of attempted murder.
It was exactly one year ago today, that Tuwhangai was in a cocaine and meth-induced psychosis, when he launched the unprovoked attack on a woman who was simply trying to help him by giving him a ride.
It was about 10.20pm, when Tuwhangai had the victim drive him to his mother’s house in Taumarunui.
Shortly after they left, he began staring and moving around the vehicle looking for something. The victim began feeling uncomfortable.
As they got into town, Tuwhangai demanded she drive him to an ATM, but she said no.
He then grabbed the wheel so that the car would continue into town.
Tuwhangai then grabbed a knife that was in a sheath on the back seat and screamed at the victim to drive him to the Taumarunui police station.
After arriving, he stabbed the victim’s left forearm, severing the tendons that controlled her hand, before pulling her out of the car, ripping off her shirt.
As he began dragging her towards the police station, she managed to stand up and ran towards it with Tuwhangai chasing her.
The station was closed and as she pressed the call button at the entrance he walked away. But, he returned with a knife and stabbed her in the face when her back was against a wall.
He then turned away before returning, running straight into the front door, and walking away again.
While the victim was sitting on the ground, Tuwhangai stood over her and stabbed her “at least” 11 times, targeting her neck, face and arms, while repeatedly saying, “I’m going to kill you bitch”.
As the victim rolled around on the ground trying to protect herself, Tuwhangai grabbed her and sat on her back.
He then walked away and punched a hole in the glass door of the station.
The victim then tried to walk away but Tuwhangai grabbed her, pulled her to the ground, and rolled her over before stabbing her at least four more times.
She feared he was going to slit her throat, so she turned and put her chin on her chest.
Tuwhangai then stabbed the back of her neck at least three times.
The victim knew that if she didn’t take the knife off him, he would kill her, so she grabbed it by the blade and pulled it off him, breaking the blade in the process.
Emergency services arrived and she was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition, and has required “extensive” surgeries.
She was stabbed with such force on at least one occasion that a tooth, including its root, was dislodged. She ended up losing several teeth.
She also suffered a severe head trauma and experiences concussion symptoms, frequent nausea and migraines, poor attention span and memory, fatigue, and sensitivity to light.
Crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton said Tuwhangai deliberately armed himself that night, before carrying out the attack on someone doing him a favour.
She said it was relevant to note he stopped the “frenzied” attack several times, only to recommence it “in a brutal way”.
“He had a determined intention to kill her as evidenced by what he told the victim, ‘I’m going to kill you, b***h’.”
Despite being stabbed 18 times, the victim‘s “extraordinary courage ultimately caused the knife to break”.
“This ferocious attack was extreme violence to the highest degree,” Hamilton submitted, adding it was unprovoked.
“It came with repeated expressions of murderous intent.
“The reason why the victim is still here ... is due to her own bravery, her own will to live and the incredible fight that she displayed.”
Defence counsel Kerry Burroughs urged the judge to issue a full 25% discount for his client’s plea which only came late as they had to order mental health reports to determine his fitness to plead.
“It shouldn’t be held against Mr Tuwhangai because he was remorseful from the moment he was arrested, but we had to be sure we could continue to sentencing.”
His client had ongoing mental health issues but the only person who could sort that out was himself, he said.
The attack was caused by the loss of a relationship and Tuwhangai’s descent into drug use which led him into a rabbit-hole of despair.
“It’s fortunate that the victim was able to read her statement today and I think that should not be lost on anyone.”
Justice Harvey told Tuwhangai that he needed to hear the victim read her statement today so that he could “begin to comprehend the harm that you have caused”.
He said there were “numerous” aggravating features, including the “extreme violence”, serious injuries, use of a weapon and an attack to the head.
The victim was also largely defenceless throughout the attack.
Justice Harvey noted that Tuwhangai had not slept for two weeks leading up to the attack, and had been hearing voices, was paranoid, and believed people were trying to kill him.
He also thought his sister was restrained in the boot of the woman’s car.
The night before he’d spent the night parked up outside the Taihape Police Station with his young daughter in the car.
Forensic reports described Tuwhangai being in a drug-induced psychosis, along with evidence of him operating with an independent mental impairment, given his low cognitive scores.
From a starting point of 10 years and nine months’ jail, Justice Harvey agreed to hand down a 25% discount for Tuwhangai’s guilty plea, 10% for youth, 10% for his background, and 5% for remorse.
After jailing him for five years and four months, Justice Harvey accepted that “in the circumstances it is a relatively short prison term”.
However, he told Tuwhangai he was lucky not to be serving a term of life imprisonment and strongly urged him to make the most of the rehabilitative opportunities while behind bars.
“I suggest you take this opportunity to turn your life around, get off the drugs and stay out of trouble.
“You have a young daughter to think about. Your future, and hers, is now in your hands.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.