KEY POINTS:
A Brookfield man tried to dangle his wife from a second storey balcony to scare her.
The 38-year-old woman had gone out on to the balcony of her home to call police during an argument with her husband Vaerua Raui, 41, on June 29.
But Raui grabbed the phone and tried to lift his wife up and over the balcony.
The couple's teenage children intervened and their mother escaped to a neighbour's place to seek help.
Duty solicitor Peter Attwood told Judge Christopher Harding in Tauranga District Court yesterday that Raui had not intended to throw his wife off the balcony.
He had instead just wanted to scare her after considerable "verbal sparring" between them.
The wife had arrived home "relatively drunk" and Raui did not like dealing with her when she was intoxicated.
Mr Attwood said Raui had stayed out of trouble for nine years and therefore community work was appropriate.
Raui was undecided whether he wanted his relationship with his wife to continue but wanted contact with his children, Mr Attwood said.
Judge Harding sentenced Raui, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a female and breaching a protection order, to 70 hours of community work. "Just imagine if you had slipped this could have had serious, dire consequences."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
