Kole Stratford jailed for violent assault on woman over meth pipe

Kole Stratford during sentencing in the Nelson District Court on a representative charge that arose from a prolonged assault on a woman, and drugs charges laid when he was on bail for the assault. Photo / Tracy Neal

A man fuelled by alcohol and drugs head-butted a woman who tried to take away his meth pipe and smash it.

Kole Stratford then slammed her hand in a car door as she tried to leave, and as she crouched with her arms clasped around her knees, he kicked her in the ribs with steel-capped boots.

“This incident was over a meth pipe and you were driven by behaviour to ensure you could have it back at all costs.

“You continued to assault a woman you cared about to get that pipe back,” Judge Jo Rielly told Stratford when sentencing him to prison in the Nelson District Court today.

Kole Stratford was sentenced to prison in the Nelson District Court on a representative charge of injuring with intent to injure, and drugs charges. Photo / Tracy Neal

She agreed with the Crown that the remorse he now showed was not genuine.

“Remorse begins with proper acknowledgment of what one has done,” Crown prosecutor Sophie O’Donoghue said.

She said Stratford, who had a history of family violence, posed an ongoing risk to an intimate partner.

A sign that he had not taken responsibility for his actions was that he had shifted the blame to others, O’Donoghue said.

Judge Rielly said the contents of Stratford’s apology letter were at odds with what he had told a probation officer, including that he denied what happened and blamed the victim.

She said his letters read the way the letters of someone now incarcerated might, displaying an increased level of insight.

“They are not genuine expressions of remorse,” she told Stratford, who appeared for sentencing via video link from prison, where he was placed on remand after breaching earlier bail conditions.

Stratford initially faced more serious charges but eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced, representative charge of assault with intent to injure from March last year, and charges from August this year of possession of cannabis and ketamine.

In the early hours of March 14 last year, the victim was visiting Stratford’s home.

The summary of facts said both were under the influence of alcohol and drugs when they began to argue.

The woman took Stratford’s glass meth pipe and intended to smash it.

He then head-butted her and she fell to the ground, but got up and continued to argue with him.

She then got the keys to a vehicle and went outside but as she got into the car, he grabbed her left hand and slammed it in the door.

Stratford got his meth pipe and went back inside.

As the victim crouched beside the car with her arms wrapped around her knees, Stratford came back and wearing steel-capped boots, kicked her in the ribs.

She was able to call the police for help. They arrived to find her hiding behind a vehicle in a shed.

‘A state of survival mode’

The woman was treated in hospital for injuries including bruising and swelling to her face, and bruising and cuts to her body.

Her victim impact statement, which Judge Rielly referred to in court, described how she was now “living in a state of survival mode”.

Stratford was on bail, and not meant to be using drugs, when the vehicle he was in was stopped by police just before 1am on August 10 this year.

A police search recovered a pill container from Stratford’s pocket, with 13.3g of cannabis and .75g of what was initially thought to be methamphetamine but was later discovered to be ketamine.

In sentencing Stratford to 20 months in prison on the lead assault charge with a minor uplift for the drugs charge, Judge Rielly said it was a prolonged assault, the victim was vulnerable and had suffered an attack to the head.

From an adjusted 25-month starting point, Stratford was given a 20% reduction for his eventual guilty plea.

Judge Rielly said there was nothing about his personal circumstances that warranted any further credits.

She had thought “long and hard” about an electronically monitored sentence instead of prison, but the only address available was the one where the offending happened, which was close to where the victim lived.

Judge Rielly said Stratford remained at risk of reoffending and therefore she did not consider him suited to an electronically monitored sentence.

His release date would be determined by Corrections, taking into account the time he had already spent in custody on remand.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.