A 50-year-old man was today jailed for six years for a bat attack that left a woman with life-long injuries.
"She will never be the same again," Christchurch District Court Judge Philip Moran told Eric John Risdon, who was found guilty at a trial of wounding the womanwith intent to cause grievous bodily harm, the Christchurch court news website reported.
He admitted assaulting the woman as she got out of her car in Peterborough Street, central Christchurch, in the early hours of April 27 last year but he denied using a weapon or causing the injuries.
Defence counsel David Ruth said Risdon had a long history of dishonesty crimes to support his "heavy duty" drug habit, but there was little violence in his past.
"This is not normally how he deals with disputes but he did on this occasion and he is disappointed about that."
Judge Moran said Risdon and the woman had known each other for many years but in April last year there was bad blood between them because of Risdon's treatment or attitude to a common friend.
"I am quite satisfied you struck her with a weapon in the nature of a short baseball bat. Medical evidence supports that conclusion."
The woman had a fractured skull, loss of hearing in her right ear, impaired hearing in her left ear, a black eye and needed an operation for an eye injury, a cut to the head and bruising to her legs. She was in hospital for a week.
"She suffers the ongoing effects of your assault upon her," the judge told Risdon.
"She has hearing impairments. She is no longer able to bear the noise at shopping malls, which results in her having to resort to bed with migraines.
"She is now on an invalid's benefit and relies on friends to assist her with her mortgage payments. She will never be the same again."
He told Risdon: "You exhibit little remorse or victim empathy. You still minimise your involvement by denying you used a weapon."
- NZPA
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