A beating which cost a Te Puke man the sight in one eye preceded his assault on a long-term girlfriend, Tauranga District Court was told today.
But Joseph Hika's troubles weren't over.
The 34-year-old was jailed for 18 months when he appeared for sentence before Judge Paul Geoghegan on charges of assault with a blunt instrument, theft and receiving.
The assault count needed to be seen in the context of a relationship break up, defence lawyer Simon Whitehead told the court.
After the unemployed Hika had found his partner of nine years with another man, he was beaten up by "a whole lot of people," leaving him blind in the left eye, said Mr Whitehead.
The next day Hika returned to get "his" dog and "ended up hitting her over the head with a hollow vacuum cleaner pipe. Again, a lot of people were there."
His client had now "completely distanced himself from this woman. It is over," the lawyer said.
But the prosecution said Hika had arrived at a Te Puke house about 2am on August 25 last year "unannounced and unwelcome," causing an argument with the occupants.
He stormed into a bedroom where his ex-partner had been asleep, wielding a "baseball bat-sized stick."
He hit her twice with the blunt instrument and ripped the puppy off her.
As the victim crouched, attempting to cover her head with her arms, Hika hit her again on top of the head.
He then ran off with the four-month-old puppy worth $490.
Judge Geoghegan said Hika had been "relentlessly" offending since 1989.
The defendant had more than 100 previous convictions, 13 of them for violence, and there was little that could be said in mitigation, the judge noted.
He jailed Hika for 12 months on the theft charge and two months for receiving, ordering him to pay $1200 and $20 reparation respectively.
The assault count brought an extra six months behind bars.
