A 22 year-old man described as a "danger to women" is behind bars for the next 17 months for his latest bout of offending. Photo / 123rf
Carlos McRobert McGrath is just 22 but already has three protection orders against him.
Now he’s behind bars for the next 17 months for offences including those against his latest victim, whom he threatened to drag by the hair from his car and run over her head.
The impact on her has been “life-changing”, the Nelson District Court heard on Friday.
McRobert McGrath had earlier pleaded guilty to charges including assaulting a person in a family relationship in March last year.
Then in August while on bail, he discharged a firearm - a BB pistol on a road next to Nelson’s Tahunanui Beach.
The next day he threatened to kill the complainant involved in the incident which gave rise to the initial charge, and therefore breached a protection order.
Counsel for the police Abigail Goodison said at sentencing that it was going to be difficult for McRobert McGrath to avoid going to jail.
“He poses a risk to any future intimate partner.
“He’s a danger to women, in essence,” she said.
McRobert McGrath listened impassively via video link from custody where he has been for several months; his blond hair pulled back off his fine features and wearing a grey sweatshirt with the word “Motueka” across the front.
McRobert McGrath already spent time in prison in 2017 for similar offending then in 2020 he received a sentence of supervision in relation to family violence matters.
Goodison described the impact of his offending on the latest victim as “destructive” and “life-changing”.
His lawyer Dave Holloway focused on a comment made at a sentencing indication hearing when McRobert McGrath was told that “something needed to be done to re-programme you”.
Holloway said it seemed there were “significant” psychological factors contributing to his behaviour in relation to how he formed and engaged in relationships.
Expert reports noted he had witnessed aggressive behaviour as a toddler, which was a theme that had continued into his young adult years.
Holloway told the court the young man’s relationship with his mother wasn’t good.
“She declined to have him home with her on an electronically monitored basis and he didn’t want to go there.”
He also noted that McRobert McGrath’s last relationship was with a woman a few years older and who had a child.
“I’m no psychologist but there were different things going on in the mix which had contributed to his offending, including that his father died in unusual circumstances when he was nine years old.”
Holloway said it would have had a big impact on him, and he appeared to still struggle with it.
He suggested drugs and alcohol had exacerbated the effects of early trauma, but whatever lay ahead in terms of engaging in help, he had “serious work to do”.
Judge Tony Zohrab noted that help had been made available the last time he appeared in court.
Holloway said the difference now was that he appeared to be asking for help.
Judge Zohrab said the recent offending was serious and involved “really nasty threats” made to his former partner, including that he would “kill her and her family”, and that he had access to guns through gang associates.
On one occasion she became so frightened by his threat to drag her out of the car by her hair and run over her head that she jumped from the vehicle as it approached a layby and hid for some time in nearby bushes.
McRobert McGrath told police that while he admitted to having argued with the woman, he never threatened her.
Judge Zohrab said on August 6 last year McRobert McGrath was the front passenger in a car near the Tahunanui Beach Reserve, when he frightened people by repeatedly pointing the pistol at them and discharged it multiple times.
The effects of McRobert McGrath’s troubled past were taken into account, but Judge Zohrab said that given his age and past conduct, he would undoubtedly seek another partner in future.
“There’s a real concern about the risk you pose to intimate partners but what I have to weigh up is how I may be able to help you,” he said.
McRobert McGrath was sentenced to 17 months in prison on the charge of threatening to kill and breaching a protection order, six months on the assault charge and two months discharging the BB pistol, to be served concurrently.
Judge Zohrab granted him leave to apply for home detention but only to an address for residential treatment when it became available.
McRobert McGrath’s release conditions included that he attend Stopping Violence programmes and alcohol and drug counselling.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.