'Coward's punch' leaves man on pavement with fractured skull, brain aneurysm

A man hit in the head outside a Nelson nightclub earlier this year was left with a fractured skull. Photo / 123RF

He claimed to not remember hitting his unsuspecting victim so severely the man was left with a fractured skull and a brain aneurysm.

"You bravely assaulted this man from behind," Judge Tony Zohrab said of the coward's punch thrown by Whetu Unahi outside a Nelson nightclub in the early hours of March 24 this year.

Unahi claimed to have "blacked out" due to the alcohol he'd consumed, and therefore didn't remember what he'd done. He later admitted a charge of wounding with intent to injure.

The victim had, until the moment he lay badly injured and unconscious, been trying to stop a fight outside the club.

An associate of Unahi was involved in an altercation in which the victim had tried to intervene.

As Unahi stood by and watched, the victim and a bouncer separated the fighting pair after wrestling one of them to the ground.

Unahi gave the impression he was encouraging the fighting to continue, the Nelson District Court heard today.

A mate of the victim then became embroiled in a fight, which the victim once again tried to stop.

A man who blindsided his victim by hitting him from behind was sentenced today in the Nelson District Court. Photo / Tracy Neal

It was then that Unahi, who had been watching events unfold, sprinted toward the victim, lunged at him from behind and punched him in the head.

He had no chance to defend himself, the court heard.

"This was a vulnerable victim. There was an element of pre-meditation – he (Unahi) ran up and struck him," police prosecution said.

"Saying he blacked out may be an explanation but it's no excuse – the victim impact statement shows there's been serious repercussions for the victim who ended up on ACC for 15 weeks, has lost his sense of taste and smell and can now only work part-time."

Police prosecution added that the fact the victim has said he was lucky to be alive indicated how seriously he'd been injured.

The punch sent the victim to the ground, where he lay unconscious and suffering a cerebral aneurysm - swelling to a brain artery.

Judge Tony Zohrab said aggravating features included that the victim was completely blindsided by a strike to the head, with no opportunity to protect himself.

There was also a degree of planning – although not particularly sophisticated.

"You sprinted up and struck this man from behind. You might have been drunk but that does not excuse what happened.

"You filled yourself with alcohol and you must take responsibility for what happened," Judge Zohrab said.

He acknowledged the impact on the victim's wider whānau and on his girlfriend who had taken leave from her job to care for him.

"This was a cowardly incident involving serious injury," Judge Zohrab said.

Unahi was sentenced to nine months' home detention with standard and special conditions, including that he complete appropriate rehabilitation programmes.

He was also ordered to pay $2500 in emotional harm reparation to the victim, and was given a final warning that any further offending of a similar nature and he would be going to prison.