A young man has been left with a lifelong and debilitating head injury after a “concerted and deliberate beating” at a tavern that only ended when he was left lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
The man was enjoying a night at the Te Rapa Tavern in Hamilton with his family on October 9 last year when his path crossed with three other men.
According to police, those men, Tyla Wirihana-Singh, Brendan Lee Varu and a third person, had been “disorderly” and were being kicked out when there was some “antagonising” with the man and his father.
Soon after the victim’s father was punched in the head, knocking him to the ground, while the man was chased outside and beaten unconscious in an attack that was captured on CCTV.
A judge with more than 40 years’ experience in the criminal court yesterday described the attack as being in the “upper echelons of violence against someone who was utterly defenceless”.
“This was gratuitous, it was callous, and what I would say to you is it’s an absolute miracle having seen [CCTV] that this is not a sentencing involving a fatality,” Judge Philip Crayton told Wirihana-Singh as he was being sentenced for his role in what happened.
Varu was sentenced last month for his role in the attack, receiving six months’ community detention, 12 months’ intensive supervision, and ordered to pay $1000 in reparation on a charge of injuring with intent to injure.
On Wednesday, Wirihana-Singh was hoping not to go to jail on his more serious charge of wounding with intent to injure, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail.
The court heard the trio went into the smokers’ area after the trouble started and the third man allegedly punched the victim’s father twice in the head, causing him to fall.
As he stood up, Wirihana-Singh, 23, punched him again from behind with a “cowardly blow” to the side of the head and he fell again.
Varu then dished out more punches and knees to the man’s head.
Meanwhile, the injured man’s son ran off, “flying” out the back of the pub and into the carpark, but was followed by Wirihana-Singh and his alleged co-offender.
They caught up and sent him to the ground before punching him several times to the head and torso.
The third man then allegedly put him in a headlock and “ragdolled” him around into a different position on the ground.
By this stage, the victim was “motionless” lying on his side and not showing any sign of retaliation.
“I infer from what I saw [on CCTV] he was incapable of defending himself,” the judge said.
“He was defenceless.”
Despite that, Wirihana-Singh and the third man allegedly continued the attack before the former broke away and started filming the incident.
His co-offender then allegedly repeatedly kicked and stomped on the victim’s head.
“These kicks were plainly deliberate and were delivered with a determination as one would kick a ball.
“I say that to make it clear that you stood idly by.
“The only movement you made was to get a better look at what was happening.
“I don’t know what was going through your mind, but it certainly was not any regard for your victim, and then you took [his video].”
The man’s mother was also there that night and saw parts of the assault on her partner.
However, she didn’t realise her son had fled outside and was being chased by Wirihana-Singh and his co-offender.
She then heard her partner, who got himself up off the smokers’ area floor, yelling as he found his son lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
“I heard [partner] yelling and wailing, ‘No, not my boy, stay with me, my boy’.
“When I eventually got to the back of the carpark of the tavern, I saw [him] leaning over his lifeless son, crying, and other patrons trying to help [him].
“He wasn’t breathing.”
Her son’s partner was pregnant at the time, but shortly afterwards had a premature, emergency C-section, the blame for which she laid at the feet of her son’s attackers.
Her son’s life had since been turned upside down and he now had to live with a traumatic brain injury.
“These boys ... have taken so much from me and my family.”
Wirihana-Singh’s counsel, Stephen Taylor, said his client was remorseful and was now turning his life around.
He’d left Huntly to move in with his Auckland-based partner, quit drinking, attended a restorative justice conference, and had been seeking help for alcohol and anger management.
Also, at the victim’s request, he would begin volunteering at a brain injury trust to learn more about the harm caused by head injuries.
He and his partner were also expecting their third child.
“He has taken steps to do something about turning his life around, which is different to so many people who come before this court,” Taylor told the judge.
Judge Crayton said the younger victim was “ultimately never going to be the same again”.
“The harm that has been suffered and is being endured by both victims and their family is life-changing.
“It has been life-changing for all of them.”
He took an overall starting point of three years and five months’ prison before issuing various discounts, coming to an end term of 12 months’ home detention, 100 hours’ community work, and ordered Wirihana-Singh to pay $5000 emotional harm reparation.
The sentence would also be judicially monitored.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.