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Repeated assaults on partner bring jail term
During a six-week relationship, Marcus Paul Panapa assaulted his partner six times.
The sixth assault was the end. Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar described it as having elements of cruelty.
Panapa, 28, knocked her down and winded her by punching in the ribs, and then kneed her in the same place he had already hit her.
He made preparations to leave, but then said he would hang around for a couple of days to torment the woman.
When he was arrested, he phoned her from prison and tried to convince her to say she had lied.
The unemployed man said, “Hi, Boss”, to the judge as he appeared in court for his sentencing on a representative charge for the five assaults, a charge of assault with intent to injure, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The assaults took place in Christchurch after Panapa accused the woman of taking money from his wallet, or “sneaking around”, or seeing someone else. He apologised to her after some of the assaults and said he would not do it again.
Defence counsel Shannon-Leigh Litt said Panapa had been in custody for two years one month on remand while the case repeatedly went to trial. He eventually pleaded guilty during the trial.
Litt said Panapa now did not want to be in a relationship until he learned some skills to deal with his anger.
He had asked for the sentencing to be delayed to yesterday to allow him to complete a NZQA woodworking course while in prison. “He hopes to use those skills in the community.”
Judge Kellar said the offending had been “persistent and sustained”. The pre-sentence report assessed him as a high risk of further offending and having a harmful pattern of drinking alcohol. Panapa now accepted he was prone to violence.
Imposing a jail term of two years five months, Judge Kellar said there could be little reduction in the sentence for guilty pleas since Panapa had taken the case to trial. “I suspect you gambled on the complainant not turning up to give evidence,” he said.
