A man has been sentenced to 17 months' jail for an assault which included kicking his pregnant partner on the ground and hitting her with a crutch he snatched from his mother as she tried to intervene.
Mason Jessey Hoepo, 27, was appearing before Judge Tony Adeane yesterday in Napier District Court, relating to incidents in Gisborne on October 21, just nine months after he'd been jailed for another assault on the young woman.
Hoepo pleaded guilty to charges of assault with intent to injure, breaching a protection order and breaching conditions of his release from jail.
A summary said the couple were travelling together in a car in Gisborne, despite a protection order put in place by the court in February last year.
They "fought" in the vehicle and when they stopped at an address, Hoepo pulled the woman from the car, knocked her to the ground, stood over her and kicked her in the stomach.