Man for trial on assault count

Press, 14 July 1987, Page 5

Man for trial on assault count

A married woman told the District Court yesterday she throught she was gong to be killed by a tradesman who grappled with her in her bathroom while he was doing renovations to the house. After a preliminary hearing, Judge Pain committed the man, aged 22, for trial by jury in the High Court on a charge of assaulting the woman with intent to commit sexual violation, on February 13. The man was remanded on bail pending a date for his trial. Interim suppression of his name was continued, at the request of his counsel, Mr A. N. D. Garrett, who reserved his defence. Mr Garrett and Mr R. G. Glover appeared for the defendant. Sergeant M. P. Caldwell prosecuted. The woman, aged 31, said in a statement read to the Court that a firm had been engaged to do some interior work in her house. On the second day they were there, February 13, one person had left at 12.15 p.m. and after this the defendant called out to her to come and have a look at something he was not sure about. She went to the bathroom and he said something about the wall changing colour. She said she could not understand what he meant, and felt uneasy. He told her to stand in a a certain position in the bathroom to see what he meant. The defendant then grabbed her round her neck. She screamed and struggled, trying to break free.

The defendant closed both doors. After further struggling they fell to the floor, hitting the shower door. He waved a tool, which he used in his work, in front of her face. The woman said she thought the man was going to kill her. He told her to stop struggling and she would not be hurt. He then took a roll of tape from his pocket and said he was going to tape her mouth. She asked why he was doing this to her, and said her son was in the lounge. The defendant then let her go and said he was sorry. She ran from the house and yelled for her neighbour. She said that by this time she was hysterical. Her neighbour arrived as the defendant left the house and stood in the driveway beside his utility vehicle. The complainant said she suffered bruises on her back and shoulder, and a cut on a leg. Her neck, arms and shoulder were stiff as a result of the struggle. A neighbour gave evidence of hearing screaming from the woman’s house, but believed it to be children. The woman then called for help. He ran to the fence and found her hysterical and crying. He thought there might be a fire. She then told him a man had attacked her and was still inside the house. He went to the house and saw a Maori man standing beside a utility vehicle in the driveway. He yelled out, asking the man what he had done. The man said he had done “a silly thing.”

The witness asked him not to go away. The man at the vehicle asked if he could collect his tools inside, but was told he had better leave them there. The police were telephoned and the witness and complainant then saw that the man and utility vehicle had gone from the driveway. Evidence of a constable who interviewed, and took a written statement from the defendant, was suppressed for the preliminary hearing, on grounds specified by defence counsel. COMMITTED FOR TRIAL Trial by jury in the District Court will be faced by Ross Bonnington, aged 32, a roofer, on a charge of unlawfully receiving antique furniture valued at $1350, previously stolen from a house at Addington. After hearing depositions or statements of evidence of prosecution witnesses, Dr J. F. Mann and Mr E. S. F. Holland, Justices of the Peace, held there was sufficient evidence to commit Bonnington for trial on the charge of receiving the furniture. They held there was insufficient evidence to commit Bonnington for trial on an alternative charge of breaking and entering the house to obtain the furniture, and he was discharged of this offence. Evidence was that the police found an antique dresser, hat-stand and chaise longue, identified as having been stolen from the house, in a garage at Bonnington’s property. Mr P. J. Rutledge appeared for Bonnington. Sergeant M. P. Caldwell prosecuted.