A judge has shouldered responsibility after he bailed a teenager on serious charges who then went on to commit a "horrific" assault on an 18-year-old woman.
The victim, who was punched six times and had her head stomped on, suffered a cracked cheekbone and eye socket, a broken nose and split lip, the Dunedin District Court heard.
Judge Kevin Phillips acknowledged her attacker, then aged 16, was on electronically-monitored bail at the time — a decision he made.
"You shouldn't have been on bail," the judge conceded. "It was against my better judgment and I have to take responsibility."
The man — now 18 and understood to be a member of a youth gang after spending long stretches in youth justice facilities — had his previous case transferred from the Youth Court to the District Court.