A man was kicked in the face "karate style" following a night out. Photo / 123RF
A man was kicked in the face "karate style" following a night out. Photo / 123RF
A 60-year-old man karate kicked in the face after a night out has pleaded with his attacker for answers on why he was subjected to such violence.
“I just wonder why it was an unprovoked attack - even if words had been said it didn’t warrant being kicked in the head,” he asked.
In a moving victim impact statement, the victim described in court how his night in town ended suddenly when, without provocation or warning, Billy-Joe Whareiaia Barrett assaulted him.
Barrett, a 20-year-old apprentice carpenter, spotted his target metres down the road in the only corner of Nelson City not asleep at 3am.
He didn’t know the victim - had never met him, but their paths crossed as the nightclubs and pubs spilled out onto the streets in the early hours of March 4 this year.
The victim spoke about the moment when walking down Bridge St he sensed Barrett had turned towards him and crossed the road, 10 to 15 metres away. He noticed him approaching, and that’s the last thing he remembered of that night.
Barrett then kicked him in the face “karate-style”.
“I didn’t know him - I have a fuzzy recollection of him but apparently I was kicked in the head,” the victim said yesterday when their paths crossed again in Nelson District Court.
They were in court for the sentencing of Barrett who had admitted charges of assault and escaping custody. He had tried to run from the police during his arrest.
Judge Richard Russell invited the victim to ask his attacker in the Nelson District Court why he had been kicked in the face. Photo / Tracy Neal
“Escaping from the police by trying to run away shows you can’t handle alcohol,” Judge Richard Russell put to Barrett who stood sheepishly in the dock.
The victim stood anxiously opposite, haltingly reading his victim impact statement.
While he had no recollection of the assault which left him with head injuries, a bleeding nose and lingering headaches, he had since become afraid of certain instances where someone he passed in the street or saw in a shop might have been Barrett.
A restorative justice conference had been scheduled for the pair to meet, but Barrett failed to turn up.
This prompted Judge Russell to invite the victim yesterday to ask Barrett directly, why he had done it.
“I had wanted a face-to-face meeting to ask why he thought it was appropriate to kick a 60-year-old man with glasses, in the face.”
The victim said he had been having a good night, but he was now reluctant to go out.
“It [Nelson] has become a violent place. I’m a bit too old to go to nightclubs but it’s disturbing this sort of thing goes on.”
Judge Russell noted Barrett’s use of illicit drugs and his problem with alcohol, and that he had drunk 12 beers and three shots on the night which had now led to a blighted record when previously he had none.
“The victim has now stood in front of you and has reinforced the impact on him. He was in town, minding his own business - he did nothing to provoke or annoy you to justify what you did.
“The emotional effect on him must be apparent to you.”
He said in any circumstances it was a “nasty assault”, and that Barrett was perhaps fortunate it hadn’t ended in a worse outcome for the victim.
“This is your first time before the court and I hope it will be your last but I need to tell you the perils faced by hitting people in the head can cause serious, permanent damage and even death.
“Many of us here in court today regularly witness it and it’s by good fortune you have avoided such an outcome.”
Judge Russell acknowledged the positives in Barrett’s life, including that he was from a supportive family and had a career ahead.
“You have your whole life ahead of you, but you have made a very big mistake.”
Barrett was sentenced to six months of supervision and 80 hours of community work, of which 20 per cent was to be served on basic living and work skills training. He was also ordered to make a $750 emotional harm payment to the victim.
“Let’s hope we don’t see you before the court again,” Judge Russell said as Barrett left the dock.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
