KEY POINTS:
A woman's pleadings have kept her attacker out of jail - and now she plans to marry him.
The couple are in a volatile and violent relationship, all fuelled by alcohol, and 43-year-old unemployed Aaron Mark Gilmore has been in custody awaiting sentence on three charges.
He was convicted at a defended hearing before Judge Jacqui Moran of assaulting the woman, assaulting her with intent to injure, and threatening to kill her.
She ended up with bad bruising after the assaults.
The injuries were obvious in photographs that had been handed to the judge.
But at the sentencing, the victim made her views clear in the victim impact statement and in a letter handed to Judge Moran.
"The complainant says she's committed to you," Judge Moran told Gilmore in Christchurch District Court today.
"You are to marry and she doesn't want you to be imprisoned. I am required to take into account the wishes of the victim of your offending."
She said the violence had occurred in a volatile relationship, impaired by alcohol abuse.
Defence counsel Leuatea Iosefa said it appeared both parties had been very drunk at the time of the incidents.
He said Gilmore had already been held in custody on remand for three months.
Judge Moran ordered the man to do 200 hours of community work and to attend courses for stopping violence, relationship counselling, and alcohol abuse as directed.
He marked his freedom with a loud whoop when he was out of sight - but not earshot - of the judge.
- NZPA
