An Oamaru man who instructed his girlfriend to dig her own grave with a pitchfork is determined to get his life back after "falling down the rabbit hole of methamphetamine".
Jarrod Stephen Humphries (24) appeared in the Oamaru District Court last month on a raft of charges including several burglaries and various assaults against his then girlfriend.
The most violent of his crimes occurred on March 12, 2022 when the pair were driving in Ikawai Middle Rd, in Waimate.
Humphries, who sat in the passenger seat, became frustrated due to a disagreement and suddenly pulled the handbrake of his partner’s car, causing the vehicle to spin before coming to a stop.
When his girlfriend told him to get out, Humphries became angry, grabbing her arm and punching her to the face twice.
He pulled the keys from the ignition to thwart her, before she threw his phone into nearby grass.
Humphries took the woman’s backpack and began hitting her with it, before she ran to hide in some long grass.
Grabbing the victim by the hair, Humphries demanded the woman find his phone before she broke free and fled into a paddock.
Ten minutes later his victim emerged, beginning the walk home.
Seeing the woman, Humphries drove directly towards her, attempting to hit her. He missed, but tried again.
This time he was successful, hitting his partner with so much force she was thrown into the air and landed heavily.
A passing motorist saw the incident and stopped to assist the woman while Humphries fled.
Two days later, the pair were at a Morven address when Humphries demanded a ride into town.
When his partner refused, he threw a metal toy at her, injuring her shin.
Grabbing a nearby pitchfork, he told the woman to dig her own grave.
"I’m going to kill you in front of your family," Humphries said.
The woman fled and sustained a black eye along with multiple bruises to her shin, shoulder and arms as a result of the attacks.
The court heard of how she "was subject to numerous acts of abuse and violence" and was "fearful of repercussions".
"I feared for my life," read her victim impact statement.
Over the following months, Humphries committed a string of burglaries, counsel Ngaire Alexander saying her client "fell down the rabbit hole of methamphetamine" and "it was only a short time before it took over his life".
An electrical shop, a produce store, a golf club, a hotel and two properties were ransacked and stripped of various items worth $2629 –— the man causing more than $5000 worth of damage between the properties.
A forensic examination placed Humphries at the scene of the hotel burglary, his fingerprints being found on the wall mount of a television he had stolen.
"He was not going to stop until he was remanded in custody," Mrs Alexander said.
On September 10, Humphries was seen driving through Middlemarch at 150kmh with some associates and their two infant children.
Humphries accelerated away from police, overtaking a ute reaching 189kmh.
Police located the vehicle in a farmer’s paddock with Humphries sitting in the driver’s seat.
He spent seven months in custody awaiting sentence, which he described as a "massive wake up call".
Humphries had worked as a company manager of a dairy farm prior to committing his crimes and was "determined to get back to a life that does not involve criminal offending", the court heard.
Humphries was sentenced to nine months’ home detention, 12 months’ intensive supervision and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
He was ordered to pay reparation of $7102 and an emotional harm payment of $2000 to his ex-partner.
— Erin Cox, Court reporter
