Veitch case: Reading of texts led to violent row

Tony Veitch's appearance in the Auckland District Court yesterday brings the nine-month saga to an end. Photo / Brett Phibbs

She went to see her former lover to pick up her belongings but within hours Kristin Dunne-Powell had been kicked so hard in the back she had fractured vertebrae.

Tony Veitch pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court yesterday to reckless disregard causing injury, and a summary of facts of the case was made available by the court.

The summary of facts states that on the evening of Sunday January 29, 2006 Veitch and Ms Dunne-Powell met at his St Heliers home to talk about the state of their relationship. Dunne-Powell had moved out of the house in November the previous year to live in her own central city apartment.

The couple - whose relationship the summary describes as "intermittent" - had been together since 2002 but Ms Dunne-Powell lived with him for only six months from April 2005 until November 2005.

The two began talking and before long they moved upstairs to talk in Veitch's bedroom.

Veitch's lawyer, Stuart Grieve QC, said telephone records showed Veitch made a number of phone calls between 7.30pm and 8pm in a study off his bedroom. The calls were made in preparation for interviews he was scheduled to do the next day on the Australian Men's Tennis Open featuring Roger Federer.

After the phone calls ended he walked back into his bedroom and found Ms Dunne-Powell looking at text messages on his cellphone.

Prosecutor John Dixon said the reading of the text messages may have provoked the argument, but not the assault which followed.

"Nothing she did justified what he did which was kick her in the back when she was on the ground," Mr Dixon said.

The summary of facts says a heated argument ensued, in the course of which Veitch kicked Ms Dunne-Powell in the back while she was on the floor.

"The defendant crouched down beside the complainant and asked if she was 'OK'. She said she wasn't. After some time they both fell asleep. The complainant awoke later in the night to go to the toilet. She was in considerable pain," the summary said.

Ms Dunne-Powell asked Veitch to take her to hospital and they arrived there at about 4am. Veitch left shortly before 6am because of work commitments. Later in the day he returned and she was discharged.

WHAT JUDGE JAN DOOGUE SAID:

On Veitch's public profile
"Let me say this from the outset. Those who live in the public eye suffer inevitable additional exposure when they fall from grace."

"Nothing I will say can and should detract from the fact you have perpetrated an act of violence on an innocent party, and you are the author of your own misfortune in all of this."

On the impact on the victim
"The victim impact report records that what is the long-lasting effect on her is the psychological distress that endures on her as a result of the assault on her...She's had to take counselling to deal with the psychological legacy of this assault on her."

"You need to be held accountable for the harm done to the complainant, and to promote in you a sense of acknowledgement of that harm ... to denounce your conduct and deter others from similar offences."

On aggravating factors
The vulnerability of the complainant in that she lay prone on the floor when you kicked her. The potential for harm and actual damage done given the specific vulnerability of that part of the body and the long-lasting impact on her psychological quality of life

On mitigating factors
"It was an unpremeditated assault. You did not intend to cause the injury. It was a single act of short duration."

On the argument that led to the assault
"I dismiss any suggestion...that her behaviour that evening was provocative. Nothing she did justified what you did that night."