An Iraqi refugee will return to the High Court for a retrial after a jury could not reach a verdict on five charges that he sexually abused his wife.
The man, 42, was found guilty by a jury last week of 13 charges of assault, threatening to kill and wounding and not guilty on one charge of wounding, but the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the sex charges.
He was remanded in custody for sentencing next month. A new trial date has yet to be set.
The names of the victims were suppressed, meaning the man could not be named because it would identify them.
During the trial the court was told the accused's wife fled Iraq with her two young children for a better life in New Zealand was repeatedly raped, beaten and punched by her new husband.
The accused subjected the people who loved him to beatings and sexual violence over a number of years, the court heard.
The court was also told that over several years the man:
* threatened to "chop" off his wife's head;
* cut her hand;
* threw a knife at her which hit one of her daughters;
* punched another daughter on the nose for refusing to call him "Dad";
* threw a computer at his wife's head, and hit her with a wooden spoon;
* swung the couple's own child around by her hair;
* hit, slapped, kicked and choked his wife until she lost consciousness while she was pregnant with their child.
The woman met the accused at a refugee camp before they both arrived in New Zealand.
