Jared Luke Pue sent threatening messages to a woman through Facebook before stabbing her. Photo / Getty Images
Jared Luke Pue sent threatening messages to a woman through Facebook before stabbing her. Photo / Getty Images
Hours before a man drove to a woman’s home and stabbed her in the back, he posted threats towards her on his Facebook page - including a photo of a knife with the caption “this is for you”.
Jared Luke Pue, 37, believed the woman had been “creeping” around the home of his elderly neighbours and in posts made to his personal Facebook page, he demanded that she apologise.
If she didn’t, he threatened to drive to the woman’s home and stab her.
New Plymouth District Court heard on Wednesday that within hours of Pue making the intimidating posts, he made good on his threats.
The court was told that the Taranaki man and the woman are distantly related but had not had any contact for some months leading up to the stabbing on May 5 last year.
That morning, Pue took to social media with his demands of the woman and following an exchange between the two he posted a photo of a knife accompanied by the menacing message.
A short time later, Pue left his home in Waitara, north Taranaki, and headed for the woman’s address.
When he arrived, she could be seen sitting on her driveway, smoking a cigarette.
Pue appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday. Photo / Tara Shaskey
Pue approached the woman and swung a punch at her but missed. The woman retaliated by punching Pue several times in the face, striking him in the left eye.
Matters escalated further, as Pue, who had a knife clenched in his hand, then swung the weapon toward the woman as she took a step back.
The knife was plunged into the centre of her back and once Pue retracted it, he thrust it toward her again but missed.
He then got in his car and left the scene. Pue was later located at his home by police and when spoken to by officers, he denied the stabbing but admitted to punching the woman.
Meanwhile, she was admitted to hospital as a result of the 3cm stab wound she suffered.
In court, Crown prosecutor Rebekah Hicklin submitted the serious offending was aggravated by an element of home invasion.
The victim was also on electronically monitored bail at the time and so was unable to leave her address, Hicklin said.
While the stabbing was premeditated, Hicklin submitted, she said Pue has not fully accepted responsibility for it.
A pre-sentence report stated he continued to deny he was in possession of a knife or that he had stabbed the woman. There was also an element of victim-blaming, she argued, referencing the report.
But defence lawyer Nathan Bourke said Pue accepted responsibility when he pleaded guilty to the charge of wounding with intent to injure.
In response to the Crown’s submission that a home invasion had occurred, Bourke argued that was true to the extent that Pue had gone to the woman’s driveway.
After hearing the submissions, Judge Gregory Hikaka took a start point of two years and 10 months’ imprisonment and then made a reduction to allow for Pue’s guilty plea.
The judge then gave a small discount to recognise Pue’s remorse which was noted in his pre-sentence report and also evident in his willingness to attend restorative justice.
An end sentence of two years’ jail was imposed with leave to apply for home detention if an address becomes available to Pue.
