KEY POINTS:
Police dog Ryka Junior may have saved a woman's life when his bite halted a brutal domestic bashing at a New Brighton house.
That's the view of Judge Lindsay Moore, who told a man being sentenced that he "owed a great gift of thanks" to the police dog handler and his dog.
"If they hadn't intervened I would have thought your chances of spending much less than the next decade in prison would have been remarkably small."
Judge Moore jailed Jason Lee Ramsay for 18 months on charges of intentionally injuring his partner, assaulting her with a weapon, and breaching a protection order that has been in place for years.
A drunken domestic dispute was under way when the police arrived on the evening of May 5.
Ramsay had been smashing beer bottles and had dragged his partner over a fence.
He had already smashed a heavy metal garden chair across the woman's body and head.
When dog handler Constable Thomas Frost came in sight, Ramsay was holding the chair up to hit her with it again.
In the constable's laconic words to the court: "I deployed Ryka who apprehended the male."
Ryka took Ramsay down with a chomp to the buttock and the hamstring before he could bash the woman a second time.
"Another blow could easily have taken her life," said the judge.
Ramsay was appearing for sentence after being convicted at a Christchurch District Court trial.
Defence counsel Michael Knowles said his client was known as a hard worker at the freezing company where he was employed.
He was "by and large a decent man" who had no previous convictions for violence at the age of nearly 40.
But Judge Moore said the police records showed they had been called to disputes at the house several times.
Ramsay's partner had not co-operated with the police and the cases had been dropped.
"In hindsight, she's paid a high price for it, because you have learned nothing," he told Ramsay.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Dave Murray said there were other victims to be considered - the couple's six-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy. "Quite clearly this offending has had significant effects on these children. It's going to take this lad a considerable amount of time to get over this."
Judge Moore noted the first blow had long-term consequences for the woman. She had scarring, problems with headaches and a dent on top of her skull.
He recalled presiding at court where in one day three generations of the same family had ended up in jail for beating their partners.
He decided to grant leave for the Parole Board to hear an application for home detention.
- NZPA
