A man who threatened to kill a woman's dog as it greeted him and his child when they arrived at a neighbour's house has been sentenced to community work. Photo / 123RF
A man who threatened to kill a woman's dog as it greeted him and his child when they arrived at a neighbour's house has been sentenced to community work. Photo / 123RF
A woman cowered under her table after a man threatened to kill her dog, which had run out to greet him and his child as they pulled up in their car outside her house.
Grigori Charpan, who now lives in Christchurch, was sentenced today in the Nelson District Court to 255 hours of community work for charges including threatening behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon, for which he was found guilty after a judge-alone trial.
The sentence incorporated 80 hours of community work after Charpan earlier admitted driving while disqualified for a third or subsequent time.
Judge Tony Zohrab suspected his “small lecture” on Charpan’s attitudes expressed at trial might fall on deaf ears.
At one point the court had to adjourn when Charpan, who appeared from the court in Christchurch via an audio-visual link, kept interrupting Judge Zohrab.
Judge Tony Zohrab advised Grigori Charpan to take a “good, long hard look at himself” and how he judged people, to set a better example for his children. Photo / Nelson Weekly
On the evening of Monday October 11, 2021, Charpan parked outside a house in the Nelson suburb of Stoke, to drop off his child at a violin lesson.
The victim was in her garage next door with her dog Poppy, described as a medium-sized crossbreed, which began barking and ran out to greet them.
Charpan got out of his car, and told her angrily that her dog running out was “not acceptable and had frightened his child”, the police summary of facts said.
The woman apologised and took Poppy inside, but Charpan became more irate, prompting the dog’s owner to once more apologise, and to say she was sorry if her dog had given his child a fright.
Poppy at this time was “wagging her tail and eager to meet the defendant”, the police summary said.
Charpan then became “enraged” when the woman asked if his child would like to meet Poppy so they could see she was friendly.
Charpan told the woman he had a knife “to kill dogs like hers with sharp teeth”.
He pulled out a folding knife and opened the blade in front of the woman.
She was shocked and went inside her house with Poppy, then hid trembling under a table while Charpan remained parked outside waiting for his child to finish the music lesson, afraid he would do what he threatened.
Charpan was arrested on October 14 as he arrived at a school in Richmond to pick up his child. He was restrained after trying to walk from the police, telling them he wanted a cell phone from the car.
The police found a spring-loaded knife in his pocket.
As Charpan was being led to the police vehicle he began yelling at his son “not to trust the police”.
He said the dog had “run up and jumped on his son with its teeth in his face”.
He denied having a knife at the time, and said that he’d only said he would call the police about the dog.
Charpan gave no explanation for having the knife on the day he was arrested.
The police favoured an electronically monitored sentence because of the significant impact on the victim and concern over Charpan’s ongoing denial of what had occurred.
However, Judge Zohrab was not sure that “hothousing him at home” with family was a good idea, particularly when comments made at trial indicated Charpan did not view women as being equal.
Charpan had asked if a female police officer wearing trousers was male or female and commented that a male police officer couldn’t be trusted because he had tattoos.
Judge Zohrab said Charpan’s allegations about the victim’s state of mind and societal status had also given him “real cause for concern”.
Defence lawyer Kyle Simonsen said while the impact on the victim had been quite significant and that Charpan had “completely over-reacted”, there had been no direct threat to the woman.
In relation to the driving charge, the police opposed a request by the defence for a section 94 application – a community-based sentence instead of disqualification from driving, due to Charpan’s history of driving while disqualified, this being his fourth time.
Simonsen said Charpan home-schooled his children and needed to be able to get them to various sports, church and music activities.
The court heard that his wife didn’t drive.
Judge Zohrab said he preferred the evidence of Poppy’s owner at trial, which had “made more sense”.
He said Charpan and his child may have had a bad experience with the dog, butCharpan exaggerated what happened before confronting the woman.
It was also concerning that Charpan said it was his “basic human right” to carry a knife.
“What also didn’t impress me was the evidence of your son – a lovely young man, but it didn’t have the right tone and there was a disturbing symmetry to it. It was clear to me he had been given a script.”
Judge Zohrab advised Charpan to take a “good, long hard look at himself” and how he judged people, to set a better example for his children.
“I suspect this will fall on deaf ears, but I wanted to say it anyway.”
On the driving matter, Charpan was sentenced to 80 hours of community work instead of a 12-month disqualification, and 175 hours of community work on the other charges.
He was also ordered to make a $400 emotional harm payment to the victim, and an order was made for the destruction of the knife.
