KEY POINTS:
A Rangiora woman's laughter after another woman was bashed with a baseball bat in her driveway was viewed as a serious aggravating factor by Judge Michael Crosbie at her sentencing in Christchurch District Court.
He sent 33-year-old Joanne Maria Barling to jail for three years and nine months for her part in the bashing, though she did not deliver the blow that felled the victim and left her lying stunned on the driveway.
After an apparent dispute about ownership of some property, Barling had lured two women to her house with text messages and she and Avon Richard Gillespie, 45, were waiting outside when they arrived.
Gillespie was expecting trouble and had armed himself with the bat. He has already admitted the charge of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, and was sentenced to four years' jail last month.
Gillespie hit her on the head as she was leaning over to pat a dog.
The woman he struck was not the target of the attack, but a friend who had gone there with her.
The blow caused three skull fractures and a blood clot to the brain. The woman had recently had a head operation to a pituitary gland and was vulnerable.
Judge Crosbie said Barling and Gillespie then laughed despite her trauma. When the two women were brought into the house, they were threatened that if they went to the police they would "lose more property" and Barling said a horse belonging to one of them would be killed.
They were thwarted from calling an ambulance, and then offered drugs if they would not contact the police.
Barling said she did not know Gillespie had the bat and was going to strike the blow and said her only mistake was in asking the wrong person to protect her, but Judge Crosbie said: "Your actions following the attack demonstrated your approval of what took place."
Defence counsel Liz Bulger said Barling had substantial support from her family and friends. She had been bringing up her children by herself with the support of her family. The children had now gone to live with her parents in Dunedin.
Judge Crosbie said Barling had a busy and chaotic lifestyle. "According to the probation service this is a way of avoiding real and potent issues that you face." These included drug and alcohol problems, relationship difficulties, and unwise choices of companions.
He said the violence had all the hallmarks of a premeditated vigilante-style attack.
Barling has been in custody since she pleaded guilty to the charge of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to the woman a week ago.
- NZPA
