Homeless man Dalton Taylor beats his partner so viciously in Hamilton he had to sit down and take breathers

Dalton Taylor, 60, was jailed for 22 months in the Hamilton District Court for his attack on the victim. Photo / 123rf

WARNING: This story has some details that may be upsetting for some readers

A homeless man who beat his partner to a pulp, leaving her bloodied with nasal fractures, told police afterwards “that’s just the way love goes sometimes”.

Dalton Taylor initially denied stomping, punching, and kicking the victim for seven-and-a-half minutes in central Hamilton earlier this year, saying that she’d simply fallen down some stairs.

Unfortunately for Taylor, not only was the whole incident filmed on the city’s CCTV, but when police turned up as they walked away, he still had blood on his hands, and skin ripped off his knuckles due to punching her with such force.

The attack was so laborious for him that he even had to sit down and take rests before unleashing on her again.

Taylor, 60, appeared in the Hamilton District Court today for sentencing on a charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and through his counsel, Grace Aislabie, he knew that prison would be the only outcome.

Court documents state the couple were in the city centre just before 10.30pm on March 7, and had a makeshift campsite set up near Riverbank Lane.

The victim was sitting on a tiered platform when Taylor walked over from their camp and began arguing with her about their relationship.

He then pushed her off the platform to one below, then dragged her around, and hit her in the head.

He then let her go and kicked her in the head while she was on the ground, causing her to fall backwards, before punching her multiple times in the head.

Taylor then stood over the woman and with his body weight held her down and repeatedly punched her in the face. When she tried to stand he kicked her down before walking away to sit on a nearby seat.

When he went back to her he held her down, stomped on her, stepped away then stomped on her two more times.

Taylor then took another breather on a seat as the woman lay on the ground before getting up and dragging her around.

The victim was eventually able to stand up and the pair walked towards Victoria St, by which time members of the public had called police.

The pair were found outside an adjacent restaurant where Taylor told police, “f*** this b****, just lock me up”.

In an interview at the station, he initially said the victim fell down some stairs, then admitted being there but not hitting her.

At the end of the interview, he said he “was remorseful, sorry it happened, that’s just the way love goes sometimes”.

‘That’s not the way you love someone'

Police prosecutor Sergeant Stephen Leet acknowledged Taylor’s remorse letter which showed he “clearly has feelings for the victim in this case but that’s not the way that you love someone, in light of the current charge that he’s facing”.

He asked Judge Denise Clark to “take a very limited view” of his remorse and suggested a maximum of 10% discount for Taylor’s alcohol and drug issues.

Judge Clark told Taylor that was “not the way you should behave towards someone that you care about, or anyone else, for that matter”.

She acknowledged he had a troubled upbringing after the death of both his parents at a young age and “the way in which things went for you after that tells me that your past has had a significant impact on things that have brought you before the court”.

“It’s really clear that you have a severe alcohol addiction.

“It’s really clear also that when you have been drinking you do things that harm others as well as yourself and you can’t keep doing that,” she told him before jailing him for 22 months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.