Man run down in domestic dispute

File photo / NZH

A man was left with cuts, scrapes, and bruises after his female partner ran him down with a car after a domestic dispute in suburban Christchurch.

Antoinette Kiriana Flattery-Donohoe, 28, pleaded guilty to a charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in the Christchurch District Court today, ahead of a scheduled trial.

The pair have a child who was 18 months old at the time of the incident last July.

Police said the woman was at her home in suburban Bromley with the victim and his extended family, who had lived with the woman for three months.

Flattery-Donohoe left the house to allow things to calm down after an argument broke out about the domestic situation. She drove her car around the nearby streets until she saw her partner walking along the footpath in Bayswater Crescent.

She drove up onto the footpath where she struck the man with the car. He rolled onto the bonnet and was carried for a short distance before she braked suddenly, throwing him forward onto the ground.

Flattery-Donohoe then backed away and drove at him again, hitting him with the front left bumper.

She then drove home while the victim was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was treated for cuts, abrasions, and severe bruising.

When the police interviewed Flattery-Donohoe, she said she did not mean to run him over and had been trying to swerve around him when he moved into the path of the car.

Judge Colin Doherty remanded her on bail to April 15 for sentence and ordered a pre-sentence report to cover her suitability for home detention, and a victim impact report.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett said he believed it was unlikely that a victim impact report could be prepared, because of the attitude of the victim.

- NZPA