"I don't know how they managed to find me guilty on this charge. There was no level of violence."
The man, who cannot be named to protect his stepdaughter, was charged with assault with intent to injure after he spotted Jason Haward walking down the street two days after raping the man's stepdaughter.
He got out of a car and attacked Haward, punching him in the face as witnesses tried to intervene.
Haward suffered seizures in the ambulance on the way to hospital after the assault. A neurosurgeon who gave evidence in the trial said it was common for people to suffer seizures after a knock to the head.
The defence during the trial was that the man had not intended to injure Haward, only hold him until police arrived on the scene.
Outside court the man said it took another six weeks after the assault for police to arrest Haward, who he claims "terrorised" their family during that time.
The man said he regretted that he didn't plead guilty to a lesser charge at the start, but did not regret his actions "for one minute".
He said it was a relief the judge had indicated there would be no prison, but he truly thought the verdict would come back not guilty.
In hindsight, he wished he had not made a statement to police after the assault. He said he was told he would not be charged, only warned for disorderly behaviour.
He said the whole process had been "terrible" for his family, particularly as they had just recently had to go through a rape trial as well for Haward.
"With this going on at the same time it just feels like we're the ones getting punished for our daughter getting raped."
Haward was in February convicted of raping the teenaged girl at Paraparaumu Beach in April 2016. He is serving a jail sentence of seven years, six months.
The trial has been going since last week.
