SUPREME COURT Assaults with intent to injure

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34013, 29 November 1975, Page 7

SUPREME COURT Assaults with intent to injure

Two Holden utility trucks, one white and the other yellow, parked close to each other at the Aranui Hotel, caused confusion which led to a brawl in which one man was struck with a crowbar and another was kicked in the head and ribs while on the ground, according to evidence given in the Supreme Court yesterday.

A jury found Tui Richard Thompson, aged 34, a carpenter/drainlayer, guilty on two charges of assaulting Brian William Fenton and Graham David Marston with intent to injure. Mr Justice Roper remanded Thompson on bail to December 5 for sentence.

Mr G. K. Panckhurst appeared for the Crown, and Mr Jones for Thompson, who pleaded not guilty to both charges. Opening the Crown’s case, Mr Panckhurst said that the charges arose from events

on July 16 in the car-park of the Aranui Hotel. At closing time, Messrs Fenton and Marston were walking towards their Holden utility truck when they saw two men and a woman attempting to open the door of the vehicle.

the group. Mr Fenton said. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” Mr Fenton was then assaulted by the accused and another man. Mr Fenton was knocked backwards over a landscape stone and then the accused kicked him in the head and ribs.

The two men went up to

After Mr Fenton regained his feet, he ran to telephone the police. When he returned, Mr Marston was still being assaulted. The accused was seen to get a crowbar from the rear of the other utility truck a few feet away, and struck Mr Marston across the forehead with it. Mr Marston slithered down the front of the car on to the ground.

The accused then turned towards Mr Fenton and said: “Have you had enough?” Mr Fenton ran off. The whole incident arose out of an innocent mistake by the accused and his two companions in going to the wrong utility truck. However, when they were challenged, the accused attacked the two men.

When questioned by the police two days later, the accused had admitted that he had gone to the wrong vehicle, but said that the matter started because Messrs Fenton and Marston had attacked his group, Mr Panckhurst said. The accused had denied using the crowbar, which was found in the rear of his utility truck.