KEY POINTS:
An Invercargill convicted murderer on life parole has been sentenced to 12 months' jail for attacking his partner.
Nigel Shane Johnstone, 36, appeared in Invercargill District Court yesterday for sentencing after earlier being found guilty of assault.
Johnstone was jailed for life in 1996 for murdering Anton Sherlock near Lumsden.
When he was released in September 2006, the Parole Board ruled he was to remain on parole for life.
Judge David Mather said Johnstone had grabbed his partner by the hair and forced her across the lounge for a short distance and that he had stood over her threatening to smash her face in, the Southland Times reported.
Johnstone had a long history of offending going back to his youth, but until the latest incident he had not reoffended since his release from prison in 2006.
Johnstone was called back to jail when he was charged in July.
- NZPA
