Man admits spate of violent offending in Wellington

The man pleaded guilty to the charges in the Wellington District Court earlier this month. Photo / File

A 23-year-old man has pleaded guilty to spate of violent offences in Wellington, including punching another man in the face as he waited in his car at a central city intersection.

The random attack was one of several over the summer that the man, who has interim name suppression, has only now pleaded guilty to.

He has admitted one count of injuring with intent to injure, one of assault with intent to injure, one common assault, and one intentional damage.

The earliest offending happened on a Sunday afternoon in December, when the victim was waiting in his car at the intersection of Palmer and Willis Sts, Te Aro.

"The defendant shouted out to the victim asking him if he wanted to buy an ounce, the victim said no," the summary of facts said.

The man then walked up to the victim's window, punching him in the face hard enough to split his cheek open.

The assault left the victim with a fractured cheekbone, chipped tooth, a permanent scar, and mild nerve damage in his cheek.

Another incident happened in Westport after the man and a relative had been drinking heavily at a funeral wake.

He walked into Millhouse Dairy on the corner of Mill St and Palmerston St, on February 24 and kicked the ice cream freezer unit before pulling the sweet display stand off its unit, hitting himself in the head with it in the process, and throwing it on the ground.

He walked out of the store without saying anything to the 17-year-old shop attendant or the customer he was serving at the time.

The shop attendant ran to the back of the dairy and told the owner and his fiancee what had happened.

The owner went outside to confront the man while his fiancee called police, but one of the defendants lashed out and attacked him.

They threw a few punches before backing away.

The victim grabbed at the man's ankles, believing he was about to go back to the dairy to confront his fiancee.

"The defendant proceeded to rain punches and blows down on the complainant's head," the summary of facts said.

The man and his alleged co-offender trapped the victim and continued punching him until he fell to the ground, where he was repeatedly kicked and punched about the head and body.

A friend of the victim who had been told about the attack by passersby showed up then and intervened, and the four men ended up in a thrashing mess on the ground, with one or both of the defendants trying to bite the victim's friend.

After a quick scuffle, the defendants fled - kicking a dog as they went - while the victim followed with a baseball bat.

He hit the alleged co-offender on the wrist with it when he rushed towards him and his fiancee.

Police arrived a short time later.

The victim suffered numerous cuts, abrasions, and bruising, as well as two superficial bite wounds.

A third violent incident happened on February 15 when the man was having a loud argument with a woman on the street in central Wellington.

He noticed a Wellington City Council community safety officer looking at him and became enraged, punching the victim in the face.

A fourth incident happened on February 28 when a Wellington night shelter resident refused to give the man any cigarettes.

He and two alleged co-offenders chased the victim down and kicked him as he lay on the ground, until witnesses intervened.

The man pleaded guilty to the offences on June 15 in the Wellington District Court.