Second teen sentenced for Puzzling World pack attack

Sheridan Foot. Photo / ODT

A teenager involved in the boozy pack attack of an Australian man at a Wanaka tourist attraction has been sentenced to home detention.

Sheridan Christopher Raynor Foot, 18, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this morning charged with injuring with intent to injure after a man was attackedon January 20 at Puzzling World.

"You were looking for trouble," Judge Kevin Phillips said.

After Foot's friend, 18-year-old Taylor William Meikle, launched a racist rant against an Indian man and his son in the carpark, things escalated.

While the defendants piled into their vehicle to leave, a bystander apologised to the Indian man, and an Australian tourist who had heard the commotion arrived on the scene.

The defendants' ute reverse into a parked vehicle and as the man went to check the damage, three of the men piled out of the vehicle.

The tourist backed off and one of the three threw a beer bottle at him, which he evaded.

Foot, Meikle, and another man who has denied allegations against him, attacked the victim.

He curled up on the ground while his wife and children watched in horror.

She tried to intervene but Meikle pulled her away.

Another of the aggressors told the woman they were not afraid to hit her.

A bystander pulled the victim to his feet but the attack continued.

One of the defendants ran up to the man from behind and wrestled him to the ground.

Defence counsel Alex Bligh said Foot actually wanted to stop the violence.

Judge Phillips said that was not the case at the start of the assault.

"You were fully involved at the coal face of this attack," he said.

The judge said the victim was lucky his injuries were only "moderate".

The Australian man was left with bruising to his chest and upper body, grazes to his elbows and knees and a sore neck.

Foot, who had no previous convictions, wrote a letter to the court saying it was never his intention to become involved in a brawl that day.

Judge Phillips rejected his claims.

"You say you tried to keep out of it, which isn't the factual basis of the charge or the reality of the situation at all," he said.

Foot told probation in his pre-sentence interview he made bad decisions when drunk and would never have acted so violently when sober.

He was sentenced to six months' home detention and 150 hours' community work.

Last month, Meikle was sentenced to eight months' home detention, 200 hours' community work and ordered to pay the Australian man $350.

A third defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charge against him and will appear in court in July.