Man sentenced for vicious attack on Christchurch couple in their backyard

Tyson Red Gray attacked a couple in their backyard on Christmas Day. Photo / Getty Images

A couple’s Christmas turned into a nightmare when they were viciously attacked by a man in their own backyard.

On Christmas Day last year, the 65-year-old husband noticed an “aggressive” dog was loose in the back of their New Brighton property.

He went outside around 7.20pm to investigate and saw Tyson Red Gray, who was unknown to the couple, also in their backyard.

The man asked Gray if the dog was his and without warning, Gray walked up to the man, who is ill with cancer, and punched him in the face, the Christchurch District Court heard on Wednesday.

The man’s wife came outside and tried to pull her husband back into the house, but Gray punched her twice in the face, causing her to fall back into a barbecue and hit her head.

Gray then put the man in a headlock, punched him in the head and pushed him to the ground. The man hit his head and was knocked unconscious.

As a result of the attack, the man suffered a concussion, a fractured eye socket and he had to have metal plates inserted into his cheeks.

He also received multiple abrasions to his face and arms. He still endured confusion “all the time” and feared he would need further surgery on his eye.

The woman, who received a bleeding lip and a lump on the back of her head, said she has become paranoid since the attack and was often afraid of opening the doors to their home.

She has had to care for her husband who is undergoing cancer treatment, which has added to the stress.

Gray was charged with injuring with intent to injure and male assaults female in relation to the Christmas offending.

He was also charged with breaching his prison release conditions after he moved house without informing his probation officer in May 2021.

Gray had been jailed in 2020 for his part in a six-person burglary ring that saw 110 Christchurch homes targeted in 2017.

At today’s sentencing, Judge Quentin Hix asked Gray how he was feeling, to which he replied: “A little bit nervous.”

Defence lawyer Michaela Brus sought an outcome of home detention for her client, submitting he had been compliant with such a sentence in the past.

Judge Hix said Gray appeared to have “some real challenges going on”. He said while Gray had previous convictions, none involved violence.

“I’m not convinced at all this is a case where imprisonment is required to protect the public ... this seems to be quite out of character for Mr Gray.”

The court heard that while Gray said he had no recollection of the incident, he accepted responsibility and was remorseful for his actions.

Following discounts for guilty pleas and personal factors, Judge Hix sentenced him to six months and two weeks of home detention, to be served at an address in Nelson.