A man who threatened to kill his father, assaulted his uncle and detained his partner and two children in a room was today sentenced to two years supervision when he appeared in the Wellington District Court.
Kane Waiwai, 31, earlier pleaded guilty to kidnapping by unlawfully detaining hispartner, assaulting his uncle and threatening to kill both his father and his partner while holding knives to their chest.
Waiwai assaulted his uncle after he had tried to intervene when Waiwai was detaining his partner and two children in a room.
Waiwai's lawyer, Paul Surridge, said the offences had been a family matter, which needed to be resolved by seeing what could be done to assist the family and Waiwai.
"They way forward must be rehabilitation more than deterrence."
The victims did not fear for their own safety and just wanted the matter resolved, Mr Surridge said.
Crown lawyer Claire Boshier accepted Waiwai's need for rehabilitation, but said there was a "very tortured" background to the offending.
The domestic violence against the same victims seemed to be escalating and a sentence of imprisonment was essential, Ms Boshier said.
Waiwai had previous domestic violence convictions.
Judge Peter Butler said both Waiwai's parents said in their victim impact statements alcohol was a problem for Waiwai and they wanted him to get help rather than go to jail.
Waiwai had been sexually abused as a child by a perpetrator who was now dead, which his family believed to be the root cause of the violence, Judge Butler said.
He referred to a psychologist's report recommending counselling for Waiwai and said he would stop short of sentencing Waiwai to a jail term today.
He sentenced Waiwai to 240 hours community work on each charge and two years supervision.
