A man's violent offending is linked to him being bullied as a child for speaking te reo. Photo / stock image 123RF
A man's violent offending is linked to him being bullied as a child for speaking te reo. Photo / stock image 123RF
A Nelson man's violent offending has been partly blamed on language barriers as a youth, in that he spoke only te reo for which he was taunted and bullied at school.
Reuben Herewini was today on the brink of going to prison for a series of offences committed between June last year and February this year – the most recent being a "disturbing" assault at a holiday park while he was on bail.
Herewini and an associate gouged, punched and kicked the victim in a manner described by police prosecution as "serious offending".
Herewini was to be sentenced in the Nelson District Court today, but it was adjourned for him to find an address. The 29-year-old's partner had offered her home as an option for home detention, but Judge Tony Zohrab said it was not appropriate that she find somewhere else to live to prevent Herewini going to prison.
A man's violent offending is linked to him being bullied as a child for speaking te reo. Photo / stock image 123RF
When Herewini gouged the eye of a man who had intervened over a noise matter at the holiday park, he was already on bail for charges he had admitted earlier involving assault with a glass bottle, assaulting police and intimidation.
Judge Zohrab considered that while Herewini's prior offending was nasty, the most recent offending was disturbing.
Events on a night last June escalated after Herewini arrived home drunk, and became verbally and physically aggressive when his partner refused to let him into the house.
He then began smashing windows, causing the glass to shatter, some of which then spread into the room where his young child had been sleeping.
He also tried kicking in the front door, and then went to his car which he also started to smash up.
Police were called out to the scene after numerous calls, both from the victim and neighbours.
When Herewini saw the police, he grabbed a beer bottle and hurled it at them, narrowly missing an officer, and striking a woman instead who had been sitting in her car nearby – causing bruising to her arm.
The Nelson District Court heard last year that Herewini had already taken "considerable steps" to sort his issues out, contacting adult mental health services and paying for the repair of the window, but accepted it had been "a pretty serious incident".
He was convicted on all charges that related to the June 2021 incident, and remanded for sentence on September 14 last year.
However, the process was delayed by Herewini's failure to co-operate with the court process, and interruptions caused by Covid-19.
When he appeared for sentence today, defence lawyer Kelly Hennessey said much of Herewini's behaviour was linked to a dysfunctional childhood, including an absent mother who struggled with addictions, and a father who left the family home when he was very young.
He was raised by his Nan who was keen to impart tikanga into his upbringing. Herewini attended Kura Kaupapa Māori (Māori-language immersion schools) and as a young child spoke only te reo.
Hennessey said when Herewini started school he could not speak English, for which other children taunted him, and which he had struggled to deal with.
As Herewini got older he appeared to have inherited his mother's traits of addiction and by the time he was in high school he was drinking and using cannabis, to the degree he was experiencing "blackouts". On a couple of occasions, he woke naked on a beach.
Hennessey repeated earlier submissions to the court that Herewini had taken steps to address his problems.
Judge Zohrab said with reference to Herewini's earlier offending, that it must have been terrifying for his partner. He said throwing a bottle at the police, which then hit his neighbour in her car, was a "nasty incident", but on its own did not constitute a prison sentence.
Judge Tony Zohrab. Photo / Nelson Weekly
The assault at the holiday park happened when the victim had responded to a request to help quieten down others at the park. Herewini, who had been living in a caravan there and an associate came out of the caravan and approached the victim, who then tried to walk away. Herewini then put his hand around the man's throat and gouged his eye as his associate punched and kicked the man, who received injuries to his face and body.
Judge Zohrab accepted Herewini's claim that he could not change what had happened, but he was motivated to change his future.
When considering the options for sentencing, Judge Zohrab adjourned it to consider community or home detention. He said it was not appropriate that Herewini's partner move out of the home they shared to live with her whanau, so that he might avoid prison.
"I don't want to see her punished, but I will give you an opportunity to get an address," Judge Zohrab said, before remanding Herewini on bail for sentencing on May 24.
