Restorative Justice<\/a> was among the most favourable he had ever seen.<\/p>\nHe credited the family\u2019s compassion and ability to manage events with clear communication after what had been a \u201cgrave and traumatic event\u201d.<\/p>\n
Recently separated <\/p>\n
Harris, 31, lived in a cottage on the property owned by his father.<\/p>\n
Police said the property, surrounded by native bush, had multiple dwellings on it in which other family members lived.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 small cottage was at the top of the property from where he operated a small business growing and selling microgreens.<\/p>\n
He had recently separated from his partner. The night before the offending on December 14, the pair argued about the purchase of a water tank Harris wanted for the microgreens business.<\/p>\n
By mid-afternoon the next day Harris had set his cottage alight, destroying it, police said.<\/p>\n
Harris then went to the main house where his father and stepmother lived. He picked up a long-handled wood chopping axe from a nearby workshop and confronted his father, stating: \u201cI am the 7th son of Herbert Harris and I\u2019m here to kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The house in T\u0101kaka where Frank Harris attacked his father as he sat in a chair. Harris was sentenced in the High Court at Nelson on a charge of attempted murder. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s wife came outside the house when she heard the commotion and heard Harris say he intended to kill the victim. <\/p>\n
She saw Harris move forward and strike his father in the chest with the axe as he sat in a chair.<\/p>\n
As he got up and staggered towards the door where his wife stood, Harris struck him with the axe two or three times more in the upper body.<\/p>\n
Crawled towards wife<\/p>\n
He fell to the ground and was crawling up the steps towards his wife when Harris lifted the axe and swung it in the direction of his father\u2019s head and neck in \u201ca motion consistent with an attempted decapitation\u201d, police said. <\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s wife intervened and the axe hit her elbow, which deflected the intended blow. <\/p>\n
The victim\u2019s eyes closed. Thinking he was dead, his wife yelled to Harris that he had killed him, and he dropped the axe and left.<\/p>\n
Harris then went to see his brother who lived on the property, and told him he had \u201cset his cabin on fire and just killed their father\u201d, and that he wanted to go to the police station. <\/p>\n
The brother found his father receiving first aid from his wife and a friend who was at the property.<\/p>\n
By then, others had noticed the fire. Efforts were made to put it out using fire extinguishers but the fire was well involved, police said.<\/p>\n
Handed himself in<\/p>\n
Harris was found on the main road and driven to the T\u0101kaka Police Station where he handed himself in.<\/p>\n
A note he handed to the police indicated a string of rambling thoughts, ending with: \u201cTold myself to think it through. The weight of the axe and the thud as it hits my old man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris declined to make a statement other than the note he gave to police.<\/p>\n
![\"Frank]()
Frank Harris during sentencing in the High Court at Nelson on a charge of attempted murder after attacked his father with an axe. Photo \/ Tracy Neal<\/p>\n
In March this year he wrote to his father, saying he was sorry that he \u201ccame down the hill and attacked him\u201d, and he was sorry that \u201cin that moment he wanted to kill him\u201d. <\/p>\n
He referred to \u201chaving lost wilful control of his body\u201d and that his \u201cemotional overwhelm had condensed into a violent act\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said at the end of the letter he was grateful his woodchopping practice \u201cdid not equal homicidal prowess\u201d.<\/p>\n
Goodison said the Crown acknowledged the victims\u2019 views but crime was a public wrong, and victims\u2019 views could not overwhelm the outcome.<\/p>\n
She said the Crown, in submitting its views on appropriate sentencing, had to consider the interests of the community as well as the interests of private individuals.<\/p>\n
In setting the final sentence, Justice Churchman awarded discounts for Harris\u2019 rehabilitation prospects, previous good character, remorse and success at restorative justice.<\/p>\n
He said Harris\u2019 release would be determined by the Parole Board. He had confidence that Harris would embrace the rehabilitation programmes available to him.<\/p>\n
He also had confidence in his potential to return to being a valued member of the community and his wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n
A family spokesperson told media outside court they were relieved the justice system had demonstrated a flexibility which acknowledged the close and loving family, as well as the harm done.<\/p>\n
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ\u2019s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said he never believed he would do what he did. Crown prosecutor Abigail Goodison during the sentencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30086,89,13612,8532,2209,2082,36341,19066,42,293,14641,14910,3234,43,1523,202,14931,1529,102517,61,40,38,41,39,28355,376,102,1530],"class_list":["post-154282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-argument","tag-attack","tag-axe","tag-ended","tag-father","tag-for","tag-frank","tag-harris","tag-headlines","tag-his","tag-jailed","tag-kill","tag-months","tag-news","tag-over","tag-seven","tag-tank","tag-three","tag-tkaka","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trying","tag-water","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}