A high-profile offender has been granted name suppression after assaulting a woman. Photo / 123RF stock image
A high-profile recidivist offender has been sentenced after another violent attack on a woman in Christchurch but the details have been suppressed in a bid to help him turn over a new leaf.
The judge who sentenced him said while the public had a right to know who was before the courts - that was "narrowly" outweighed by her duty to ensure the criminal had a chance of proper rehabilitation.
The man has a lengthy conviction history, including violence against women and breaching protection orders.
The most recent charge came after he attacked his ex partner - pausing during the attack to let her take their young child out of the room.
Court documents provided to the Herald reveal the man went to the woman's house earlier this year and the pair argued.
The woman then punched him in the head three times.
He "threw a right hook" which connected with the left side of her head, police said.
"She immediately curled into a foetal position on the ground where the defendant stood over her and began to throw a series of punches, striking the victim on her arms and back.
"[The man] then stopped, which allowed time for the victim to stand up and pick up their child who had entered the room. The victim took her son out of the room."
The woman told the offender to leave the house but he refused, standing in the way of the door when she tried to get out.
"[He] attempted to take the victim's phone from her when she said she would call police, and began to chase her around the lounge," the court heard.
"There was a physical struggle between the pair for the phone which resulted in the defendant forcefully covering the victim's mouth and nose with his hand.
"To stop [him] doing this the victim pretended to faint and fell to the ground."
The offender only left when a relative of the woman arrived at the house.
Police said she lost a tooth in the assault and had bruising on her body.
The man was sentenced to supervision in the Christchurch District Court earlier this week and Judge Jane Farish granted a last-minute suppression application, meaning his name or any information that identifies him cannot be published.
She then outlined her reasons for doing so, and later permitted the Herald to publish that detail.
At an earlier hearing she had told the offender that she would not be looking at a "restrictive sentence".
Rather she would be looking to make sure he tried to get some help "particularly in relation to anger management".
A pre-sentence report provided to the court was "very positive".
While the offender's early years were "blighted by family issues" and he went "off the rails" and was in trouble a lot as he got older - more recently he had been "very compliant".
Judge Farish said that was "impressive".
She said he'd also gained some insight into his relationship with his ex partner - described in court as "toxic" and "not good" for either party.
"You have both been together for a very long time … but unfortunately for both of you when you are together, it does not always go that well," she said.
"It is not just that it is not good for you - it is not good for your children either.
"I think you are far better off to parent separately than parent together, particularly if the children are exposed to abuse and violence between you and their mother."
Judge Farish said the man had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, ADHD, depression and anxiety.
"But you are being medicated, well medicated, for those and that seems to have brought about some clarity," she posed.
He was now being supported by one of his parents and their partner and said he wanted to get a job as soon as possible.
However, he said media attention on his offending thwarted that as potential employers had been able to find details about his violence and repeat offending online.
"You have told me that you have been applying for jobs," said Judge Farish.
"You would really like to be employed and I think that would be a very good thing for you to be employed - but your notoriety goes before you.
"You have come to some notoriety because of the media interest … and also some of your previous convictions."
Judge Farish said media attention around this week's sentencing may be "detrimental" to the man as he worked to improve his life.
"You have asked me for suppression … principally because it will cause ongoing difficulties for you in relation to being able to achieve employment, but also to be able to continue on this path that you appear to be successfully managing at the movement towards rehabilitation and reintegration.
"Now, for me to grant that I would have to be satisfied that if there was publicity about the sentencing, that that would adversely affect the purposes of the sentence and the sentence itself.
"The publicity may not necessarily compromise [rehabilitation programmes the man was ordered to complete] - but what it would do is draw, in my view, unnecessary attention to you now.
"Yes, you have been a violent man. Yes, you do have a tendencies towards violence, but you are trying to deal with that."
The man also sought to have the full details of his offending and the outcome suppressed.
Judge Farish agreed his name could not be published but allowed the Herald to report on the case itself.
"Up until now, I don't believe that you have been given a lot of opportunities in terms of building on those positive gains that you have managed to make," she said.
"In a very unusual way, when I balance out the interests of the community and what the media would say … that the community should know that you are a violent man … balanced against that I have your interests, the interests of your children and the interest overall of making sure that if you are heading in a positive direction now that that is not going to be compromised by publicity.
"So by a very narrow margin I am going to grant the order.
"I think it is about time you were given the ability to try and get on with your life as much as you can without unnecessary media exposure."
She gave the man the name of a local company who were known for employing people for their hard work rather than worrying about their past behaviour.
She encouraged the offender to approach them for a job.
He was sentenced to nine months supervision for the recent offending and ordered to complete a rehabilitation programme relating to his violent behaviour.
Judge Farish said the victim had told the court she did not want the man sent to prison - that she wanted him to get the help he needed.
"I think the longer that he is in prison the worse he gets," she said before sentencing.
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