A man has been found guilty of fracturing his partner's skull with intent to cause serious harm when he hit her with a spade during a domestic incident.
Napier resident Andrew Tauira Whatarau, 42, hit his partner in the head with a spade twice in the early hours of April 22 last year in what he claimed was self defence.
The victim suffered a six centimetre wound to the back of her head, a fractured skull and bleeding around the brain.
A jury at the Napier District Court took three-and-a-half hours to reach its decision today.
The Crown argued Whatarau "lost his cool" and attacked his partner with the spade then left her lying in her own blood in his backyard until police, notified by neighbours, arrived.