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• A 19-year-old avoided conviction after assaulting a police officer during a messy family violence callout. 
• The officer suffered a concussion from the assault, which happened when he was trying to detain the defendant. 
• The man’s lawyer said it was a case of his client taking self-defence “too far”. 

A young man who gave a police officer a concussion after he was “unlawfully detained” while officers were trying to talk to his injured sister has avoided conviction. 

The 19-year-old has also been granted permanent name suppression for the offending, which happened in November last year after police received a family violence callout to an Upper Hutt property. 

According to the summary of facts, the aggressor in the family harm incident had already left the property by the time police arrived that afternoon. 

When officers arrived, the defendant’s sister told them to leave, “which police ignored due to her visible injuries”. The officers tried to engage with the woman, who went into the house while verbally abusing them. 

The defendant and another brother came to the doorway of the house and made threats to assault the officers, the summary said. 

The trio “rebuffed police’s effects to engage with [the sister] and ascertain her welfare and began filming police, while continuing verbal abuse. At some point this interaction has moved into the driveway.” 

Another officer arrived at the property, at which point the victim advised the defendant he was detaining him for the purposes of a Police Safety Order. 

The defendant appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court last week. Photo / Melissa Nightingale 

The defendant told the victim to “F” off and began heading inside the house, at which point the victim reached past the sister and grabbed the defendant’s hoodie to detain him. 

“Without warning, [the defendant] has turned and swung a haymaker punch directly into the side of [the victim’s] head. The defendant threw several punches, connecting each time with [the victim’s] face and temple area, causing him to stagger.” 

The defendant continued throwing punches at the victim before losing his footing, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He did not stop swinging punches at the victim’s head until he was pepper sprayed. 

Once it had been established there had been no family harm incident between the siblings, police decided not to issue a Police Safety Order against the defendant. 

He was charged for the attack and has since pleaded guilty to assaulting police. 

Judge Mike Mika said the victim suffered injuries to his face, arms, legs, mouth and hands, and was hospitalised and spent time off work with a concussion. 

According to his victim impact statement, he had concerns for his welfare and that of his colleagues since returning to work. 

Judge Mika made the comments in the Hutt Valley District Court last week, where the defendant had appeared for a discharge without conviction hearing. 

Defence lawyer Stephen Parry said his client acknowledged he “went too far in his self-defence”. 

“This is a deeply unfortunate situation. It didn’t have to happen like this,” he said. 

The defendant was “a young man with a difficult relationship with the police . . . and was put into a situation where he was unlawfully detained, where he was retreating from that detention to a place of safety, where he lashed out”. 

Despite his relationship with police, the defendant has not appeared before the court before and has no previous convictions. 

Parry questioned where it was “proper that a young man’s future be jeopardised because of a decision made in an instant in a high-stress situation”. 

“He’s a young man setting out on his life’s journey.” 

He said the defendant had been out of school since 15 and had worked nearly continuously since then. 

“He’s a very charismatic and talented young man who’s been dealt a really difficult set of cards. I’d hate for his potential to be unrealised because of a conviction.” 

Judge Mika said aggravating factors included the assault to the officer’s head, the fact the victim was a policeman, and the continued nature of the attack. 

Mitigating factors included the defendant’s remorse, his young age and lack of convictions, and his difficult background, such as being removed from his family at a young age and dealing with mental health issues. 

He found the consequences of a conviction would be out of proportion to the gravity of the offending and granted the discharge without conviction. 

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.