Man told police he did 'real job' on ex-partner

Jamie Andrew Wright appeared before the Dunedin District Court. Photo / File

A man who found his ex-partner at home with someone new told police he "had done a real job on her" after climbing into the house through a window.

Jamie Andrew Wright (23) previously pleaded guilty to a charge of injuring with intent to injure and appeared before the Dunedin District Court yesterday.

He and the victim had broken up shortly before he went to her house in the early hours of August 27.

Wright spent some minutes wandering around the property before knocking on the woman's bedroom window.

A male friend of hers spotted the defendant outside."Reading between the lines," Judge John Macdonald said, Wright then realised the man was a love rival.

While the defendant hauled himself in through a bathroom window, the other man left the house.

Wright cornered the victim in the lounge.

She screamed at him and pushed him away.

"The defendant retaliated by pushing her back and punching her in the cheek," a police summary said.

He then threw her to the ground.

"As the victim lay on the floor the defendant picked up a sub-woofer and threw that at her, hitting her about the body," police said.

The judge noted there was one final violent act before Wright walked off.

"You stomped on her leg as you left for good measure."

While Judge Macdonald accepted the defendant was remorseful, he said the man's comments to police in the aftermath were telling.

"You did say you 'had done a real job on her', which supports the idea your intention was to injure her; and that's what happened," he said.

The victim spent seven hours at the hospital and could not drive or work for a few days because of a black eye.The court heard Wright

planned to study medicine but had eight convictions, including six for burglary.

"Your life, perhaps, has not worked out as you had planned," the judge said.

An interview with Probation suggested the defendant had unresolved issues from his childhood, Judge Macdonald said.Wright was sentenced to 12 months' supervision, 200 hours' community work and was ordered to pay the victim $800.