threw it over the back fence<\/a>. When asked by the owner of that property what he was doing, he said, \u201cI always stomp these grounds.\u201d <\/p>\nHe kept walking through backyards, carrying the safe, at one point kicking down a fence, until he arrived at the property of a 61-year-old man, whom he knew. <\/p>\n
Harris told the man, who was gardening, that he wanted to have a chat inside \u201cabout a financial issue\u201d he thought the man could help him with. <\/p>\n
The two went inside and, while the man sat at his table, Harris stood over him and became angry, yelling at the man and telling him that he had been, \u201cF****** talking s*** about me behind my back\u201d. <\/p>\n
The victim said he wouldn\u2019t have anything to say. <\/p>\n
Harris then pulled out a hammer, telling the victim, \u201cShut the f***, I\u2019ll smash your f****** head in with this hammer\u201d. <\/p>\n
According to the summary, the terrified victim froze. It was then that Harris saw the victim\u2019s wallet, phone and car keys sitting on the table and picked them up. <\/p>\n
Ignoring the man\u2019s pleas to return them, Harris walked outside to the man\u2019s car, which he tried to start but couldn\u2019t get the keys into the ignition. The two began fighting, until neighbours intervened and retrieved the man\u2019s keys. <\/p>\n
At this point, Harris walked away, only to return when the man yelled at him to return his wallet and drop the hammer. <\/p>\n
Harris struck the man with the hammer on the back of his head and twice assaulted the man on his arms during the struggle, before neighbours again intervened. <\/p>\n
Harris walked away still carrying the man\u2019s wallet and was arrested the following day at a Porirua park where he was found carrying two screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and a large meat cleaver-style knife. <\/p>\n
![\"Daniel]()
Daniel Harris at his sentencing in the Wellington District Court. <\/p>\n
A month later, while on remand for those matters, Harris punched a prison officer in Rimutaka Prison. <\/p>\n
According to the summary, Harris became angry at being told he couldn\u2019t move into a cell with another prisoner because he had a \u201cNot to Double Bunk\u201d notice on his file. <\/p>\n
Ignoring a request to step back, Harris instead went up to the officer\u2019s face and told him he needed to apologise. <\/p>\n
Without warning, Harris punched the officer, breaking the man\u2019s jaw and glasses. <\/p>\n
The court heard the officer now has a permanent metal plate in his head and had a wisdom tooth removed. He was in a lot of pain, had to avoid contact sports and experienced both mental and financial stress as a result of the assault. <\/p>\n
A dangerous man<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Sebastian Hartley sought a sentence of four years\u2019 jail, telling Judge Bill Hastings that Harris was \u201ca dangerous man and any sentence should include a degree of deterrence and community protection\u201d. <\/p>\n
In contrast, Harris\u2019 lawyer, Tony Bamford, submitted a sentence of two and a half years\u2019 jail would be appropriate, adding that his client expressed a genuine wish to change. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe simple point is he accepts he\u2019s had a long-standing issue with drug addiction which he needs to address,\u201d Bamford said. <\/p>\n
Judge Hastings noted the aggravating features of the offending. <\/p>\n
His first victim, who thought he had \u201ca good casual relationship\u201d with Harris, suffered bruising and a cut to the back of his head and multiple tears to his arms and hands. <\/p>\n
The prison officer will have the metal plate in his head for the rest of his life. <\/p>\n
In mitigation, the judge referred to an affidavit filed by his lawyer, noting his mother was observed taking drugs and alcohol during his pregnancy. As a child, he\u2019d also witnessed assaults on his mother by an abusive partner.<\/p>\n
The court heard that one night his grandparents had found him unwell and sleeping inside a drawer; his mother was prevented from seeking medical attention for him by her partner. His grandparents took him to a doctor before taking him to live with them. In court, Harris expressed surprise at some of the details, saying he hadn\u2019t heard them before. <\/p>\n
An alcohol and drug report noted that Harris had a severe methamphetamine disorder, but there had also been a lack of engagement with previous sentences and rehabilitative interventions. <\/p>\n
Judge Hastings said he was prepared to give a discount as a result of Harris\u2019 indication he wanted rehabilitation, his addiction and his adverse upbringing. But he was not prepared to give a discount for remorse, saying there wasn\u2019t enough evidence to do so. <\/p>\n
On two charges of unlawfully being in a yard, robbery, wounding with intent to injure, possession of an offensive weapon and causing grievous bodily harm to a corrections officer with intent to injure, Harris was jailed for three years, four months and 14 days. <\/p>\n
Harris spent much of the hearing challenging the facts on which he was being sentenced, but after Judge Hastings handed down the sentence, Harris thanked him for his consideration, saying, \u201cDo the crime, do the time.\u201d <\/p>\n
The judge concluded the sentencing by telling Harris he hoped he would see a leading specialist in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. <\/p>\n
\u201cMr Harris, I really hope that at the end of this sentence, or even as part of it, you are seen by Dr (Valerie) McGinn, I think that will really help you going forward,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I always stomp these grounds According to the summary of facts, the offending began in April of that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,17704,89,18829,2082,21140,19066,14641,111,43,139,69,8442,153205],"class_list":["post-270460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-daniel","tag-for","tag-hammer","tag-harris","tag-jailed","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-prison","tag-rimutaka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270460","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=270460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}