Appeal granted over good samaritan attack

A Christchurch couple jailed for savagely turning on a good samaritan who tried to stop them fighting have been granted leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.

Joseph Junior Sipa, 23, was punching Tessa Jean Edwards, 22, repeatedly in the face when Matthew Pullan was walking past their car early in the early hours of November 7 2004.

Fearing Edwards was going to be killed, Mr Pullan intervened, telling Sipa not to punch his "missus" like that.

Sipa then turned on Mr Pullan and Edwards joined in, screaming racist abuse and death threats, then repeatedly stomping on his head in an assault that lasted 15 minutes.

Edwards kicked Mr Pullan in the head about 10 times during the assault. She was twice pulled away only to return and continue the attack.

Mr Pullan, bleeding heavily from his mouth and nose, dragged himself on to the footpath but Sipa ran at him again, punching him hard enough to knock him out.

The attack left Mr Pullan with a dislocated shoulder and needing reconstructive facial surgery.

In Christchurch District Court last September, Sipa, a welder, and Edwards, a mother of three, pleaded guilty to assault and were jailed -- Sipa for 2-1/2 years, and Edwards for 21 months, with leave to apply for home detention.

The Crown, through the Solicitor-General, appealed their sentences, submitting that they were too lenient in the circumstances of the assault, and the Court of Appeal agreed, raising the jail terms for both Sipa and Edwards to 3-1/2 years.

Now Christchurch lawyer Michael Starling has successfully argued in the Supreme Court that because Sipa and Edwards had pleaded guilty on the understanding that Edwards would be able to apply for home detention and continue caring for their child, they were entitled to be re-sentenced in the District Court.

In previous cases the Court of Appeal has allowed defendants who have been given a sentencing indication to "vacate" their earlier guilty pleas and be re-sentenced in the District Court.

In its recent decision, the Supreme Court has granted leave for Sipa and Edwards to appeal.

"The ground approved...is whether, before allowing the Solicitor-General's appeals, the Court of Appeal should, in the circumstances of the present cases, have expressly offered the appellants the opportunity to appeal against their convictions and thereby to seek their setting aside and the remission of the cases to the District Court for reconsideration of their pleas," the Supreme Court justices ruled.

The Supreme Court appeal is set down for June 14.

- NZPA