Periodic detention sentence for assault

Press, 4 March 1981, Page 4

Periodic detention sentence for assault

! A man who was earliet i convicted of injuring a I friend under circumstance* ■ that had death occurred he would have been guilty of (manslaughter was sentenced , jto periodic detention for eight months by Judge Fraser in the District Court yesterday. In sentencing Tausolo ! Taliau. aged 3,3. a process I worker, the judge said he accepted that the comJplainant had suffered no (long-term effect as a result of his injury. | However, the nature of .the initial injuries indicated that it was a serious assault. It was not difficult to envis-. age that Taliau could have been facing a more serious' charge, said Judge Fraser. i Earlier Taliau had admit- i ted the offence which oc-} curred at Hornbv on Janu-i ary 13. ’ I At that hearing the police! prosecutor had said the I

police went to the address! after the complainant, Eli-j sara Fiamarili, had been! taken to hospital. The complainant had lost I

■r'a lot of blood from a seriousi a cut to the neck. ( s Counsel (Mr T. M. -Abbott)' e said the defendant and the] I-complainant were acquaint-; d ed. p r Earlier the two men had. ' drunk a significant amount' 1 Cof liquor at a working men’s; ( | club and after that both had/ -(gone to the complainant’s' 1 ‘’'home they had then drunk a< e large bottle of vodka or gin,;--■said Mr Abbott. _ .‘ “From that point on niy • [ client’s recollection is hazy,”! l (said Mr Abbott. I. u There was no obvious rea- 1 I; son. cause, or motive behind. 1 'the assault. . . J ■i Since the offence Taliau' 1 “ had “been living in terror” of imprisonment, and had, 1 'not drunk since. I The complainant was off 'work for two weeks. ; a in ( ASSAULT CHARGE | y Ronald Te Amo, aged 37.i0 la plasterer, denied a charge’

I of 'assaulting a girl under,! ;the age of 14 on March 1. j: He was remanded on bail;, to May 1 for a defended : hearing. <

I WILFUL DAMAGE ' A seaman who spray. I painted a front wall of the ■ Winter Garden with an anti'war slogan _ was convicted ■and fined 575. In addition the judge 'ordered John Harden, aged ! 18, to pay compensation of §25 towards the cost of removing the slogan. | Sergeant M. P. Caldwell ’said that the defendant, who admitted the offence, was seen spraying the wall at 11.45 p.m. Counsel (Mr P. R. Van Rig) said that Harden, whom he described as “an ardent pacifist,” claimed he had round the can of paint. The defendant had had a few d r inks earlier. ASSAULT CHARGES Sean Christopher Eddy, aged 22, a butcher, was remanded without plea to March 10 on three charges of assault. Eddy, who was granted

bail, is alleged to have assaulted Victor John Ebon, John Charles Underwood and Patrick Timothy O’Connell on February 28. '