A judge is concerned a sentence she imposed on an intellectually disabled man "may be setting him up to fail".
The 27-year-old man appeared in the Invercargill District Court yesterday and was sentenced to nine months’ supervision by Judge Catriona Doyle, despite concerns he had no accommodation.
He was granted final name suppression due to his mental health concerns.
The defendant pleaded guilty to three charges of assault in a family relationship and one of wilful damage.
Though his bail had never been opposed, the man had been in custody for several days as he had nowhere to live, the court heard.
While living with his grandparents, he had assaulted his mother, grandmother and grandfather and broken their microwave.
This resulted in them no longer wanting the defendant living with them.
The matter was originally called in the morning but due to the judge’s concern for the vulnerability of the man, it was stood down in hopes of finding him a place to live.
With no success, Judge Doyle was torn about how to proceed.
Counsel Tanya McCullum said, "there’s not many places around [for him to go] but I don’t think that prison is the suitable place for him to go."
The defendant told the court yesterday "prison is not for me" and "I’ll do anything to get out of prison".
"There are no good sentencing options really available to [the defendant] and I’m concerned that the sentence I’m imposing now may be setting him up to fail," the judge said.
"If I sentence him to supervision, where does he go?"
Ms McCullum said the defendant was not the only person in custody when they should be in mental health facilities or elsewhere.
The communications assistant raised concerns the defendant might not understand his supervision contract and therefore might not comply.
"Just because the court is concerned about where [he] will go once he is out of custody doesn’t mean he should be kept in custody," Judge Doyle said.
"I wish [the defendant] all the best."
— Felicity Dear, PIJF court reporter
