Mosgiel mother with history of drunken assaults admits punching daughter 'hard'

Tania Vince has been sentenced to home detention twice within eight months for drunken violence. . Photo / Rob Kidd

A Mosgiel mother who consumed 18 RTDs (ready to drink alcohlic beverages) and punched her daughter repeatedly told police after the attack: "I went f*** hard".'

Tania Lee Vince, 38, admitted hitting the 17-year-old after a charge was lowered to common assault.

She appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where she was sentenced to three months' home detention, during which she would be barred from contacting the victim.

Vince started drinking with friends at 4pm on October 15 and when her daughter entered the house, she and her drinking buddies started calling the teenager names.

"She was entirely uncomfortable with your level of intoxication,'' Judge Kevin Phillips said.

The girl left and returned later, to again face the defendant's wrath.

Vince grabbed the victim, pushed her on to the bed and the girl bolted from the house.

Keen to avoid another altercation, she later climbed in through her bedroom window to go to bed.

But at 1.30am the next day Vince confronted her again.

The defendant told her to get out of the house then threw a water bottle at her as she went to the toilet.

When the girl told her mother she did not like her drinking, Vince flew into a violent rage.

The victim bit her on the upper arm to ward her off but that only heightened the defendant's anger.

Vince connected with three or four punches to her daughter's head, the court heard.

Police notebook entries from the night were telling, the judge said.

Vince first informed officers she had consumed 16 cans of Cody's (a bourbon-and-cola pre-mixed drink) and had had two more before hitting her daughter.

"I smashed her,'' the woman told police.

"I was hitting her to get off me. I think I got some hits on her; two hits to the face, they weren't soft punches. I went f*** hard.''

Vince, months later, told Probation she felt "really guilty'' about what had happened.

She said she was not normally aggressive when drunk and it was down to the people with whom she mixed.

"You do get violent when you drink,'' Judge Phillips said.

"Transference of blame to other people won't get you anywhere whatsoever.''

Vince's criminal record told a story, Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said.

She had assaulted her daughter in 2015 and made headlines with another drunken episode last year.

Vince had gone berserk when noise control seized a stereo because of repeated noise complaints.

In the aftermath, she spat in a police officer's face and later bit another officer on their hand.

For that she was also sentenced to three months' home detention.

Defence counsel Campbell Savage said his client had not had a drink in "quite some time'' and that she was keen to repair the relationship with her daughter.