Woman jailed for statue attack

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A Manawatu woman has been jailed for 6-1/2 years for attacking a friend and smashing her skull in with a 5kg Buddha statue.

Fiona Jane Jordin, 44, was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday for the attack on Otaki nurse Kerry Cumming, the Manawatu Standard reported.

Ms Cumming had gone to Australia to work and had asked Jordin and her partner to mind her house in Otaki.

In November last year Ms Cumming returned unannounced to find her house a "pigsty", her possessions sold and thousands of dollars worth of bills in her name, she said.

Jordin said Ms Cumming had attacked her so she retaliated in self defence, but the jury rejected this claim and found Jordin guilty, in September, of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.

The attack involved the Buddha statue and a glass vase.

Ms Cumming flew from Australia to read her victim impact statement to the court last week.

"My head had to get put back together like a jigsaw puzzle, along with my face, and multiple other wounds on my body," she said.

Ms Cumming proved wrong doctors, who said she would never be able to function on her own, but her left eyelid does not blink or close, she is deaf in one ear and she cannot sleep on her left side as the metal plates in her head cause piercing pain.

She also has permanent vertigo, which causes her to feel nauseous when she bends down or reaches for something.

She also suffers from fatigue, permanent short-term memory loss and a speech impediment.

Judge Les Atkins did not impose a minimum non-parole period on Jordin, which means she could be out of prison after serving one third of her sentence.

- NZPA