A woman who was bashed with a hammer in a shopping centre car park after she questioned why a child was eating cigarettes has described it as the “saddest day of her life.”

However, the victim is now willing to forgive her attacker, Sarangi Karamea Jaque-Oddell Lim, for her “explosive act of rage”.

While the victim has expressed her desire to move on from the June 27 attack last year, a court has heard how the injuries she suffered could have been a lot worse if not for the help of bystanders.

Today, Lim, 28, appeared in the High Court at Hamilton for sentencing on a charge of attempted murder following the incident at The Base shopping centre in Hamilton.

Crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton told Justice James MacGillivray that the attack only came to an end when people intervened and pulled Lim away from the victim.

Defence counsel Kerry Burroughs urged the judge to take into account his client’s mental health history and disorders in the hope of limiting her jail term.

The hammer attack

The court heard that Lim had been at The Base, where she bought several items from the Warehouse, including the hammer.

After finishing her shopping, she returned to the car park.

The victim questioned her about a child who had a packet of cigarettes in her hand and was eating them.

Lim became “angry and aggressive” and started shouting at the woman.

Sarangi Karamea Jaque-Oddell Lim pictured at an earlier court appearance. Photo/ Belinda Feek

The victim said she was leaving and turned away to reach into her boot when Lim struck her forcefully with the hammer, twice on the back of the head.

The woman turned to face her and tried to grab Lim to stop her, but Lim hit her again, hard, in the face and head.

Both the victim and Lim fell to the ground, with Lim on top of her and continuing to hit her with the hammer – and her fists – to the head and body.

It only came to a stop when other shoppers intervened and dragged Lim off the victim, who was bleeding heavily.

The woman was hospitalised with two large cuts to the back of her head and her upper right cheek.

She also sustained large bruises to her back and upper body.

When spoken to by police, and in her initial written statement, Lim said, “I just snapped and hit her ... I bought a hammer from The Warehouse at The Base and when I got back to the car, I hit her twice with the hammer”.

When questioned about her intent, Lim said: “to kill with intent”.

“She’ll be lucky she’s still alive,” she added in her interview. “So I lashed out today and I don’t give a f***.”

“I did attempted murder and I don’t give a s***.”

‘Driven by a determination to kill’

At the sentencing, Hamilton described the incident as an “explosive act of rage”.

“This is, in any view of it, an explosive act of violence driven by a determination to kill, and it is as a result of the bravery of bystanders that the victim in this case has recovered well and that the injuries were not such that they were life-threatening.”

Hamilton pushed for a starting point of nine to nine and a half years but agreed Lim was entitled to discounts for her guilty plea, for attending a restorative justice conference, and for her remorse and mental health issues.

However, she urged the judge to restrict the mental health discount as Lim was using methamphetamine at the time.,

For Lim, Burroughs asked the judge to sentence her on the injuries the victim suffered, not the injuries that could have been caused if people hadn’t stepped in.

Lim now appeared well, was getting the medication she needed, and had made the most of her time on remand, where she completed various courses.

Mental health played a significant role

Justice MacGillivray acknowledged the victim’s comment in her statement, in which she described the incident as “the saddest day of her life” and how she now had a desire to move forward.

Given that the attack was to the head, that a weapon was used, and the injuries the victim suffered, the judge found a sentencing start point of nine years imprisonment was warranted.

He noted a forensic report completed immediately after the attack found Lim was unfit to enter a plea and was deemed to have a mental disorder.

She had also been subject to a community treatment order at the time.

Lim had bipolar, emotional disregulation, and polysubstance abuse, involving cannabis, alcohol, and methamphetamine, the court heard.

“In my assessment, your complex mental health does come to explain how you attacked [the victim].”

He found her mental health “played a significant role” in the attack and, as such, reduced the sentence by 20%.

The judge allowed a further 40% in discounts before landing on an end sentence of four years and three months imprisonment.

“I urge you to take full advantage of any rehabilitative programmes available to you,” he told her.

The court heard that the woman had expressed a desire to become a social worker and to complete more courses.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.