A man stomped on his partner’s head and kicked her repeatedly because of an argument over cellphone data, a court has heard.
John Henwood (39), of Hastings, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week after pleading guilty to injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Despite the severity of the attack, Judge David Robinson said there was little evidence of sympathy from the defendant.
In interviews before sentencing, he disputed the summary of facts, a version of events he had earlier accepted.
Defence counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner argued Henwood was sorry for what he had done, which was evident in his attending a restorative justice conference with the victim and accepting guilt for an incident in which there were no witnesses.
“He’s remorseful. It’s a question of what he’s remorseful for,” she said.
On March 15, the couple had come to spend time with family in Middlemarch.
Henwood was serving a sentence of intensive supervision at the time, for two assaults committed against his girlfriend, the court heard.
Their getaway quickly soured when the defendant began arguing with the victim over the lack of data on his phone.
The violence kicked off when they got into a car.
First Henwood punched the woman through an open passenger window then he followed that up with repeated blows to the head and body from the driver’s seat.
He reversed the vehicle before accelerating towards the house, stopping just before collision.
The exhibition prompted the victim to flee to a nearby hotel from which staff called police.
Though the woman was advised to remain, she returned to the scene.
Henwood
shoulder-barged her to the ground then kicked and stomped on her head.
Multiple blows were inflicted on the woman’s ribs and back, police said.
The victim got to her feet but Henwood again shoved her over and the kicking resumed.
He then drove off, leaving his partner in “severe emotional distress”.
The defendant was arrested 20km out of town.
The woman was taken to the local medical centre and then
to Dunedin Hospital, where doctors noted:
- Tenderness to her forehead and skull.
- Bleeding from her ear, consistent with a burst ear drum or jaw fracture.
- Tenderness to her spine and chest walls.
- A severe headache and blurred vision.
However, the victim discharged herself and refused to make a statement to police.
The court heard this week she remained supportive of Henwood.
A report clearly showed the defendant had experienced systemic deprivation during a childhood characterised by violence, Judge Robinson said.
“You have subsisted, effectively, with a nomadic lifestyle which is attributable to the upbringing you endured,” he said.
Henwood was sentenced to two years, eight and a-half months’ imprisonment and given a first-strike warning under the three-strikes legislation.
