The victim was dumped at a property on Gerse St with serious injuries. Photo / Bevan Conley
The victim was dumped at a property on Gerse St with serious injuries. Photo / Bevan Conley
A Whanganui woman who lied to police and refused to help in an investigation into a brutal bashing, which left the victim unconscious for a week, has been re-sentenced.
The victim of the beating was dumped battered and unconscious at a house in Gerse St in Whanganui East by two men at 3.40am on September 19, 2020.
Police have not been able to charge anyone with the attack, which left the victim with no recollection of the night and a permanently impaired memory.
Lee-Anne Maree Duxfield appeared before Judge Ian Carter in the Whanganui District Court on Wednesday to have her sentence for perverting the course of justice over the case reviewed.
In November 2021 the hospitality worker was sentenced to 150 hours' community work and five months' community detention after pleading guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment.
Lee-Anne Maree Duxfield was re-sentenced on a charge of perverting the course of justice in the Whanganui District Court. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Herald applied for a copy of the judge's sentencing notes but was told while there was audio of the hearing, there were no written records.
The Crown summary of facts states the victim was drinking with a workmate at the bar where Duxfield, a solo mother, worked on September 18 and the trio left together at closing time.
After picking up another woman the group went to a bar in the CBD, where they remained until closing about 2.10am.
About 90 minutes later the victim's colleague and another man dropped the battered and bruised victim off.
They told the occupants of the house the man had been beaten up and told them to take him to hospital when he sobered up.
Due to the victim's condition an ambulance was immediately called and he was admitted to Whanganui Hospital with severe head injuries.
He remained unconscious for about a week and was later transferred to a severe head injury rehabilitation facility.
Police launched an investigation into the assault and identified Duxfield had been with the victim before he was bashed.
On September 24, Duxfield was interviewed and gave a formal written statement claiming she had driven the group back to an address where they ate burgers before she left sometime after 3am. She claimed the victim was fine.
However, subsequent police inquiries showed she lied and had driven the victim and his colleague to an ATM, near the intersection of Somme Pde and Kaikokopu Rd, where both withdrew money.
The car was then driven into Kaikokopu Rd, across the railway line and towards the Hells Angels gang pad.
Duxfield was again interviewed by police on February 3, 2021, but refused to talk, "saying she would leave it as it is".
"Her actions have, to date, aided in protecting the persons responsible for the injuries to the victim, from criminal prosecution."
This week defence lawyer Anna Brosnahan applied to have the 150 hours' community work cancelled and replaced with an additional month of community detention.
Judge Carter granted the request.
The colleague and two other men have been charged with similar offending, relating to the removal of the victim from the crime scene, and will be sentenced later this month.
