Judge Jo Rielly made an order under a section of the Oranga Tamariki Act that a record would remain that he committed the offences, but they were not convictions, which was an “important distinction”.
She said she understood that was not what the youth wanted to hear, as a permanent record could harm his chances of the dreams he held for the future, but the public interest and protection of the community had to be weighed up against his own wellbeing.
The youth, who has automatic name suppression, sat nervously beside his lawyer Michael Vesty this week during sentencing on charges of injuring with intent to injure, threatening grievous bodily harm, disorderly behaviour, assault, wilful damage and threatening behaviour.
Defence lawyer Michael Vesty says the youth showed promise and was capable of hard work.
Judge Rielly described Vesty as “stoic and somewhat clinical” for the efforts he had invested in the youth personally.
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Vesty had encouraged the youth at a local gym and was proud of what he had achieved and the efforts he had made to change.
“He’s not drifting and is capable of hard work,” Vesty said.
Senior Constable Jude Yeoman brought to court the broken spectacles that belonged to one of the victims, to show the force of the assault.
“The notion he’s a different person now is stretching the truth,” Yeoman said.
He noted that the youth’s offending was primarily against females, or those considered vulnerable, including one of his victims who still suffered the effects of a brain injury from an earlier car accident.
In July 2023, the youth was involved in a prolonged incident involving a victim who was attacked while waiting for friends outside a takeaway outlet.
The youth was with another young person who punched the victim first, forcing him to stumble backwards and fall.
The youth then joined the group, which had set upon the victim, kicking and punching him.
The victim tried to get away by jumping over a fence, but the group followed and attacked him again.
Judge Jo Rielly noticed the efforts the youth had made to change, but denied him the “clean slate” he had hoped for.
He ended up on the ground at which point the youth went behind him and kicked him in the back of the head with such force it sounded like he had “kicked a rugby ball through goal posts”, Judge Rielly said in summarising the facts.
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The group dispersed when vehicles appeared. The victim was left with cuts, bruises, grazes, a concussion and broken glasses.
On a day between late December 2023 and January 2024, the youth threatened a staff member at a local department store with grievous bodily harm after he was confronted.
The staff member, in her 60s, said the youth had regularly been at the store “causing issues”. When another staff member asked him to leave, and as the victim watched, he “got in her face” and told her he would “bash her head in”.
Around the same time, the youth assaulted a 14-year-old girl, and he assaulted another female in a vehicle in March last year after she refused his demands to be dropped off at an address.
The youth, seated behind her, grabbed her by the hair and slapped her in the head and arm. As she leant forward to avoid him, some of her hair was ripped out.
He then got out of the car and began kicking the door, which broke the wing mirror.
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In September last year, he was again charged with injuring with intent.
The youth, who was on bail at the time, was with a group that approached a man in a public park and asked about his watch in an apparent effort to trade it.
The youth chased him as he went to leave and knocked him to the ground with a “king hit” to the back of his head. Despite being warned the victim had suffered an earlier brain injury, the youth kneed him in the head “four or five times”.
Judge Rielly said after the man returned home he suffered seizures and was admitted to hospital.
About this time the youth also threatened his neighbour and threw rocks at her car and house.
Judge Rielly said the abuse towards her and her partner was such that she had moved away.
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She said the victim impact statements revealed the level of concern about the youth’s violent, controlling and bullying behaviour.
Despite this, she hoped he would learn to channel his flair for influencing others for good.
Judge Rielly noticed the efforts the youth had made to change through his writing and positive engagement with various programmes.
She said his challenge now would be to remember daily everything he had experienced but through a lens that was aspirational, to make him into the man he should become.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.