Man admits assault using pillow

Kim Marshall Jury, of Carterton, was charged with common assault and appeared before Judge Peter Butler in the Masterton District Court on Thursday.

A man who hit his former partner's daughter with a pillow has been convicted but escaped a penalty.

Kim Marshall Jury, of Carterton, was charged with common assault and appeared before Judge Peter Butler in the Masterton District Court on Thursday.

On January 18, the court heard, Jury's former partner went to his house to pick up her belongings and had taken family members with her. Jury had asked them to wait outside but they had gone into his house.

He had asked the woman to leave and she wouldn't so he hit her teenage daughter with a pillow.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Garry Wilson said Jury hit the complainant on the back of the head.

While she had sustained no injuries, the force of the blow had caused her pain in her neck.

Jury's lawyer, Ian Hard, said his client had hit her on her bottom, not the back of the head. He said it was a low-level assault, but his client had taken it seriously.

"He has undertaken counselling."

Mr Hard asked Judge Butler to consider Jury's early guilty plea and the fact he had already taken steps to address his issues.

Judge Butler convicted and discharged Jury, saying, "This was not a serious assault."