The Court of Appeal will today hear arguments against a home detention sentence imposed on a young father after he broke his baby daughter's legs.
The 12-month sentence was imposed on James Robert Hall, 20, in the High Court in Napier in August.
Crown prosecutor Russell Collins had asked Justice Mary Peters for a sentence calculated from a starting point of four years.
Defence counsel Scott Jefferson argued home detention was possible if the judge used a starting point of two years and applied appropriate deduction for Hall's youth and acknowledgement of guilt, which meant there was no need for a trial.
Justice Peters applied the deductions and, considering a need for Hall to be earning an income to help support his daughter, took the potential jail sentence below a two-year threshhold, enabling the consideration of home detention.
The Solicitor-General appealed against the sentence and the case will be heard today in the Court of Appeal in Wellington.
Hall had pleaded guilty to two charges of causing grievous bodily harm relating to incidents leading to his 4-month-old daughter's admission to Hawke's Bay Hospital in March last year.
Staff found both the girl's thigh bones broken and an older fracture of the left tibia.
Hall, 18 at the time, admitted that he would grab his daughter's foot and bend her leg up her back. According to police, he had said that once or twice it was in anger, but while he meant to hurt the girl he was not realising what he was doing.
- Hawke's Bay Today staff
