P-addict jailed for violent attack

A violent P-user was told he presented "an ugly face" to the world when he consumed alcohol and drugs.

"At the age of 34, it is about time you did something about your drug and alcohol problem," Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish told Duncan Robert James Shaw.

Alcohol and drugs had been his demon, she said.

"It is the ugly face that caused you to behave in this fashion on this night."

Shaw pleaded guilty to intentionally causing grievious bodily harm to a man outside the Brian Boru hotel in Thames.

Judge Farish jailed him for four years three months and imposed a minimum non-parole term of two years six months.

She noted his previous convictions for violence and a recent conviction for possession of methamphetamine. Shaw has already served jail sentences.

Defence counsel Rupert Glover said Shaw had a huge sense of remorse and accepted that the assault was the result of over-indulgence in alcohol and a lengthy period of drug use.

Shaw had been in a confrontation with a man at the hotel, but accepted he had mistakenly attacked a different man who had never met him outside later.

Since the assault he had moved to Christchurch to get away from his former associates and lifestyle in the North Island, had given up drinking and taken work as a labourer.

Prosecutor Marcus Zintl said the crown sought the minimum non-parole term.

Judge Farish said it had been a violent and prolonged attack while Shaw had been in an uncontrolled rage. It only stopped when a third person intervened.

The victim had broken ribs, fractures to his face including a broken eye socket that now had metal plates and screws, damaged hearing, and continued dizziness that prevented him driving or riding a bicycle.

- NZPA