Jaden Tzanakos was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today. Photo / Tracy Neal
Jaden Tzanakos was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today. Photo / Tracy Neal
It was just one punch, without provocation, but the force with which Jaden Tzanakos hit his victim knocked him unconscious, leaving him with injuries to his head and face, and a broken tooth.
The 26-year-old plasterer was today sentenced in the Nelson District Court to five months of community detention and nine months’ supervision on a Crown-laid charge of assault with intent to injure.
He avoided prison for the “gratuitous violence” that, sadly, the courts saw too often, Judge Jo Rielly said.
She said they were often in the context of too much alcohol, and in situations where there’d been misunderstandings that led to violence meted out for extraordinary reasons.
It was in the early hours of October 1 last year when Tzanakos left a Blenheim bar that he came across the victim, who was walking in the same direction.
“For an unknown reason you took exception to this,” Judge Rielly said.
Blenheim's Seymour Square where Jaden Tzanakos came across the man he'd earlier knocked unconscious outside a bar. Photo / Tracy Neal
Tzanakos then punched the 26-year-old man in the face, which knocked him to the ground. Tzanakos then walked off, leaving the unconscious victim on the road.
The pair came across each other later in Blenheim’s Seymour Square; the victim walked away when Tzanakos asked him if he “wanted to go Round Two”.
The victim was left with a swollen face and head and a broken tooth that required him to undergo significant dental treatment. He was unable to work for two weeks because of an injury to his elbow when he fell to the ground.
Judge Rielly said the assault appeared to have been unprovoked, although she could see from the submissions made on his behalf he didn’t agree. However, the summary of facts did not record any provocation.
“Even if there was something going on in the background, you must have punched this man hard to have knocked him to the ground with one blow, which caused two different types of injuries.
“This was a one-punch assault that knocked a man unconscious and then you antagonised him again later.”
Judge Rielly said Tzanakos was still a young man, and despite the type of harm he’d suffered as a child, which no one should endure, he had managed to get on well in life and had grasped every opportunity he could.
“You are gainfully employed and highly regarded. This was a mistake, but a concerning one and it could have had a worse outcome.”
Judge Rielly said in sentencing Tzanakos that his remorse and guilty plea warranted a 25 per cent credit, despite the Crown’s submission that it should be less because of the delay in him pleading guilty.
He was given further credit for his background circumstances, which Judge Rielly said were too personal to be detailed in court. She also took into account his engagement in rehabilitation of his own volition, and efforts to lead a lifestyle to ensure the same doesn’t happen again.
From a starting point of 23 months in prison, the sentence was reduced to 12 months, which then allowed consideration of an alternative to a custodial sentence.
Judge Rielly said home detention would be a barrier to his employment and therefore sentenced him to community detention with a night-time curfew.
The sentence of supervision included standard and special conditions including that he attend an alcohol and drug assessment and a Stopping Violence programme.
Tzanakos was also ordered to pay $1849 in reparation to the victim.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
