The householder went after Ferrall, who had walked off down his driveway.
According to court documents, Ferrall reacted by putting the basket down, kicking the victim in the stomach and punching him in the face.
The man suffered a cut near his eye, bruising and swelling.
Ferrall got away with some of the items.
He had been less successful earlier on the same evening in September 2025, when he entered another house through a window.
In that attempt, he wrapped up electronic equipment, clothes and jewellery in a blanket.
However, he left without them after a resident arriving home disturbed him.
Ferrall was later convicted for assault, possessing an offensive weapon, trespassing, two charges of burglary and three of shoplifting.
The shoplifting charges related to Ferrall stealing from Woolworths, Pak’nSave and the Warehouse in Napier in the weeks either side of the burglaries.
He got away with nearly $750 worth of items.
At Woolworths and Pak’nSave, he was challenged by staff but walked or pushed past them and left the shop.
Ferrall already had an extensive list of dishonesty convictions.
He was sentenced to three years in prison.
His lawyer, Sathiyasivarubini Balakumar, appealed his sentence to the High Court.
One of her arguments was that the burglaries were “opportunistic”, as the entry points - a window and a ranch slider - appear to have been left unlocked.
Balakumar also said the assault should not have been treated as an aggravating feature of the second burglary, as it happened on the street outside after the victim’s “unwise decision” to follow Ferrall.
However, High Court Justice Dale La Hood said there was “no merit” in the argument that the door and window were unlocked.
“The fact an occupier neglects to lock a window when leaving their house, or does not lock a ranch slider while they are at home, cannot be a mitigating feature,” he said.
“While it inadvertently increases the ease with which a burglary can occur, it cannot reduce the culpability of the burglar,” Justice La Hood said.
He also said the assault could not be considered separately to the second burglary.
“This is the very type of potential confrontation that increases the seriousness of burglaries of dwelling houses,” he said.
“The assault only occurred a short distance from the property, near the end of the driveway, and Mr Ferrall chose to assault the victim rather than dropping the basket and leaving.”
He dismissed Ferrall’s appeal against sentence.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.
