A Kerikeri real estate agent has been sentenced for an unprovoked assault on the Far North's top cop after an apparent case of mistaken identity. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Kerikeri real estate agent has been sentenced for an unprovoked assault on the Far North's top cop after an apparent case of mistaken identity. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A Kerikeri real estate agent has been sentenced for punching the Far North's top cop in the face in what he said was a case of mistaken identity.
Kevin Lloyd, 27, applied for a discharge without conviction when he appeared in the Kaikohe District Court on Friday on a charge of assault with intent to injure.
He was instead sentenced to 80 hours' community work and nine months' supervision.
According to the summary of facts, Far North police area commander Inspector Riki Whiu was having a meal with his daughter at a Paihia restaurant on April 16 this year while Lloyd was at a nearby table with friends.
After Lloyd finished his meal he approached Whiu, introduced himself as Kev, shook his hand and asked if he knew one of his friends standing at the door.
As Whiu leaned forward for a better look Lloyd punched him around the right eye with a closed fist, then shouted an obscenity and raised a middle finger as he left the restaurant.
Whiu, who suffered an abrasion and swelling, followed Lloyd in an attempt to find out who he was. In the meantime his daughter called 111.
Lloyd said he mistook Whiu for a man who had beaten up one of his friends in Paihia a few weeks earlier.
Kevin Lloyd sought a discharge without conviction, saying the consequences of a conviction - including the possible loss of his job - would outweigh the crime. Photo / supplied
His lawyer, Stephen Nicholson, rejected police suggestions the assault amounted to vigilante action.
Rather, it had been precipitated by his recollection of a ''pretty grisly'' assault on a friend, and involved two or three minutes of premeditation at most.
He conceded there was some vulnerability in that Lloyd's action was unexpected, but the victim was ''not a non-robust person'' so was not vulnerable in that sense.
Lloyd had not previously appeared in court and had a positive reference from his former Navy commander. He is an agent with Mike Pero Real Estate in Kerikeri.
Police attempts to cast doubt on his previous good character due to a warning for being drunk and rowdy on Christmas Eve 2016 outside a pub in Kerikeri were ''just silly'', Nicholson said.
He had pleaded guilty early and had offered to go through the restorative justice process though he knew it would be gruelling.
Nicholson said the consequences of a conviction would outweigh the crime because there was ''a real and appreciable risk'' the professional body he belonged to could remove his right to work as a real estate agent.
That would also cause ''horrible damage'' to his father, who owned the business.
Far North police area commander Inspector Riki Whiu was having a meal with his daughter at a Paihia restaurant when he was hit in the face. Photo / supplied
Police prosecutor Russell Price said, however, Lloyd's attack on a man sitting in a restaurant enjoying a meal with his daughter was ''completely unwarranted and unprovoked''.
A king hit, or coward's punch, could do tremendous damage to an unsuspecting person, he said.
Weighing up the arguments Judge Michelle Howard-Sager said she took into account Lloyd's previously unblemished record, early guilty plea, willingness to take part in restorative justice, and real risk to his career.
However, she was concerned about the assault on a stranger, the ''potentially disastrous'' consequences of an attack to the head, and the element of premeditation which included cajoling the victim to move forward for a better opportunity to hit him in the face.
The victim impact statement was not read in court but the judge said it was clear the assault had affected the victim and his daughter. That included being subjected to ''victim blaming'' from his colleagues.
Judge Howard-Sager said Lloyd could lose his job but that was a natural consequence of that kind of behaviour.
It was also important the public knew what had happened, she said.
Lloyd was sentenced to 80 hours' community work with nine months' supervision, during which he will have to attend assessment, treatment or counselling as directed.
