Rugby player who assaulted pregnant partner fined

Paul Perez in the New Plymouth District Court today. Photo / NZPA

Taranaki rugby player Paul Perez today had a $750 fine added to previously ordered reparation costs for choking and punching his pregnant partner.

Perez, 23, was found guilty of three charges of domestic violence in New Plymouth District Court last month.

Today, Perez was fined $750 and ordered to pay $130 in court costs. At his earlier hearing he was ordered to pay $2029 in reparation and attend an anger management course.

During his trial the court was told Perez and his partner of two years, Dana Carlyle Brooks, had a volatile relationship.

Ms Brooks said Perez had often spun out of control during their tempestuous on-and-off partnership.

"He gets this look, his eyes turn black and you can't calm him down," she told the court.

She had been terrified when he choked her into near unconsciousness and punched her, causing her nose to bleed profusely.

When she tried to get to the phone in their New Plymouth home to call police, he grabbed a knife and cut the cord.

When she went back to the house a few days later to get her possessions, she found many of them shredded and her two iPods and cellphone in pieces.

In a videotaped interview Perez said he got angry because he believed Ms Brooks had lied to him about a second pair of shoes she had when he picked her up from work on May 31.

- NZPA