A Queenstown man with a history of violence broke a bouncer’s teeth with a headbutt while on bail for assaulting a 12-year-old boy.
Police say Jason John Bastion began acting threateningly when the victim refused him entry to a Church St bar early on August 6.
When the 36-year-old pretended to punch another security doorman in the face, the victim stepped between them, prompting Bastion to headbutt him in the nose and mouth.
The defendant then ran away.
When Bastion was arrested in Geraldine three days later, a search of his vehicle unearthed a bottle of a white substance that turned out to be amphetamine.
The offending, for which he was charged with injuring with intent to injure and possessing amphetamine, occurred while he was on bail for assaulting a child five months earlier.
In that incident, Bastion was descending an escalator in Stratton House, central Queenstown, at the same time as the 12-year-old victim and his sister, both of whom he knew.
After an exchange of words on the street outside, he approached the boy and shoved him in the neck, causing him to stumble backwards.
As the boy and his father went to the police station to make a complaint, Bastion spotted them, and from across the road, shouted at them and made derogatory hand gestures.
Bastion told police he assaulted the boy in response to ongoing provocation by the victim and his family.
At Bastion’s sentencing in the Queenstown District Court yesterday, counsel Paige Noorland said the assault on the boy occurred after the victim made derogatory comments that caused "something of a snap".
The defendant had been in custody since August 9, and Ms Noorland asked for a sentence of imprisonment that would get him close to release after accounting for time already served.
Summarising the police submissions, Judge Catriona Doyle said the assault on the bouncer was aggravated by the targeting of the head and the injuries the victim suffered.
The victim had to have two teeth removed and suffered ongoing migraines.
Noting Bastion’s multiple convictions for violence dating to 2009, she convicted him and imposed a sentence of 17 months’ prison.
She granted him leave to apply for home detention for any time remaining after accounting for time served.
— Guy Williams, PIJF court reporter
