Man imprisoned for order breach

IMPRISONED: Carl Forward has been 'in and out of prison'. PHOTO/THINKSTOCK

A man jailed for repeated breaches of a protection order was "institutionalised" to the point he treated his home as a prison, Masterton District Court heard on Thursday.

Carl Joseph Forward, 42, was sentenced to 11 months' jail for breaching a protection order by assaulting a protected person, and for three months for the assault.

Judge Patrick Grace said Forward had approached the victim after "there had been an argument over what could only be described as trivia".

Forward had followed the woman to another address and had approached her when she was sitting in a plastic chair.

As he approached she had kicked out with her feet, but he had pushed her leg aside, and "the chair leg broke and she fell on the floor".

Forward's lawyer, Susie Barnes, read a letter from one of Forward's family members that detailed the effects of him being "in and out of prison".

After coming out of prison, the letter said, Forward had "deteriorated".

He had "become institutionalised to the point where he acts and behaves as if he is still in jail".

This included spending hours sitting in his room and staring at the wall, and saying things like "Man, if I'd had this sharp object when I was in jail, no one would have messed with me."

The letter said jail was "not an effective method of treating (the accused's) issues", which included drug and alcohol abuse.

Judge Grace said home detention was not an option because the only address Forward had nominated was with the woman he had assaulted.

"It's not acceptable to confine you to the same place as the victim."

The judge said Forward had eight previous convictions for breaching a protection order, and four convictions for male assaults female, a "continuous pattern of offending" dating back to at least 2007.

Forward was sentenced to prison for 11 months, but it was noted he had been in custody since his arrest on July6.

He was also required to meet release conditions, including counselling, for three months after the end of his sentence.