WARNING: This story is about family violence and may be distressing.

An angry man struck his partner while she was holding a baby because she wouldn’t talk to him, before going on to injure six other people, including three children, in a fit of rage.

The rampage began when the intoxicated man approached his partner in her bedroom last November. When she wouldn’t engage with him he slapped her with an open palm 10 times on her thigh, causing immediate swelling and bruising.

 According to a police summary of facts produced during the man’s recent sentencing on various charges in the Christchurch District Court, the woman put the baby down as the abuse continued.

The man dragged her along the floor, punching her, before throwing a large pot plant towards her.

As it landed next to her head, parts of the ceramic pot struck her in the face, damaging her teeth and causing bleeding.

The couple have six children and three were sleeping in the house when they heard the screaming.

They woke up and went into the bedroom, where they confronted the man and yelled at him to stop.

Children assaulted

 The man punched two of them in the face.

The woman fled to a nearby address to call for help.

The man followed and confronted a third child, punching them in the head.

He also kicked the child as they lay on the ground.

The child tried to hide under a bed as he threw a pram, which hit them. The child packed a backpack and fled the house.

The man headed to a neighbouring address in search of the woman. There he located a fifth victim and accused her of calling police on a previous occasion.

She told him to leave and fled towards her house, entering the garage as the man ran towards her, as she attempted to close the garage’s electric door.

He climbed under the door and entered, telling her, “If you call the police, it will be the last thing you ever do.”

She told him to leave again, and he left.

Neighbours assaulted

The man’s seventh victim arrived at the address and found the fifth victim, his wife, in shock.

He told the man, who was standing outside, to leave.

The sixth victim, who was the seventh victim’s son, went outside.

In a confrontation, the man punched the sixth victim twice and also the punched the seventh victim, then threw him into a fence.

As police arrived and arrested and attempted to handcuff him, the man tensed his arms and thrashed his body.

The Christchurch courthouse. Photo / Matthew Abbott, The New York Times

Police assaulted

While he was being walked to a police vehicle, he kicked a police officer in the leg, causing them to fall.

He initially refused to get into the police car, bracing his legs against it.

The summary of facts showed the man’s partner received a black eye; two fractured teeth; a fracture of the greater tubercle of her left shoulder, (a crack of the upper arm bone); and bruising to her leg.

Two children were left with tender cheekbones, and the third child suffered a bleeding nose, significant swelling to the jaw and sore ribs.

The neighbour’s husband was left with a tender cheekbone, and his son received grazes to his head.

All the victims were vulnerable

Judge Callaghan said the man had a history of offending and family violence callouts.

The offending was aggravated by the fact he was serving a sentence of intensive supervision, a community-based rehabilitation sentence, at the time.

All the victims were vulnerable and the offending occurred in their homes where they should expect safety and security, the judge said.

“In respect of the children, a significant breach of trust by being assaulted by a parent.

“In respect of the partner, an aggravating feature is that initially she held the young baby, but was able to put that down, but the children, particularly the three I mentioned, witnessed the violence and I am not double-counting because they, themselves were subsequently assaulted and there was a threat at least on the partner and the actual use of a weapon in respect of the (one of the children).”

From the information in front of him, the judge said the man was an alcoholic and prior to the incident, appeared to have been coping, having undergone rehabilitation.

He and his partner were planning a wedding.

However, alcohol or intoxication was not a mitigating feature, although addiction to alcohol should be considered by the court when considering personal mitigating features, Judge Callaghan said.

Judge Callaghan sentenced the man to 28 months’ jail on charges of injuring with intent, assaulting children, assaulting neighbours, assaulting a police officer, resisting police, behaving threateningly, unlawfully being in a building and breaching intensive supervision.

FAMILY VIOLENCE

How to get help: If you're in danger now: • Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours or friends to ring for you.
• Run outside and head for where there are other people. Scream for help so your neighbours can hear you.
• Take the children with you. Don't stop to get anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember it's not your fault. Violence is never okay.
Where to go for help or more information:
• Women's Refuge: Crisis line - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843 (available 24/7)
• Shine: Helpline - 0508 744 633 (available 24/7)
• It's Not Ok: Family violence information line - 0800 456 450
• Shakti: Specialist services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and children.
• Crisis line - 0800 742 584 (available 24/7)
• Ministry of Justice: For information on family violence
• Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga: National Network of Family Violence Services
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women.
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Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.