{"id":338782,"date":"2026-03-20T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/338782\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:38:08","slug":"harness-racing-driver-jordan-crawford-labelled-a-thug-by-judge-after-repeatedly-punching-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/338782\/","title":{"rendered":"Harness racing driver Jordan Crawford labelled a \u2018thug\u2019 by judge after repeatedly punching partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crawford had earlier admitted assault on a person <\/a>in a family relationship and three charges of assault with intent to injure, after attacks between November 10, 2024, and April 13, last year.<\/p>\n

After being told of Crawford\u2019s methamphetamine addiction, Judge Cocurullo was left even less impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want him out of it on meth in a sulky behind a horse,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u2018If I think you\u2019re lying, I\u2019ll smash you again\u2019<\/p>\n

All of the attacks happened while the pair was travelling in a car, with either Crawford or his former partner in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

On the first occasion, the pair had been arguing at a Boundary Rd property before getting in their car and driving off down State Highway 1, towards Cambridge.<\/p>\n

By now, the argument was heated, and Crawford punched the victim \u201cmultiple\u201d times to her right arm and leg while demanding she answer his questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about how you answer my next question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hesitate or I think you\u2019re lying, I will smash you again,\u201d he told her as she begged him to stop.<\/p>\n

Then about 1pm on January 19, last year, the pair began arguing at BP Rototuna over the way the victim was answering questions.<\/p>\n

They drove off down Horsham Downs Rd, and an enraged Crawford \u201cstarted hitting everything in the vehicle\u201d, before launching a two-minute long attack on the victim, punching her all over her body.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at what you made me do, you s***, I f***ing hate you,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n

He then punched her twice in the face, causing her nose to bleed.<\/p>\n

Later that night, the pair was driving to KFC Cambridge and began arguing over Crawford borrowing the victim\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

She said \u201cno\u201d, and as they drove, he punched her twice in the face.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want me to take you to hospital, are you dying? No, well shut the f*** up, then,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n

On January 29, the pair was driving to Rotorua when they began arguing over Crawford blocking people on the victim\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n

He punched her left arm with full force as he drove down SH1 at Karapiro, and struggled to control the car as he rained down 20 more punches.<\/p>\n

\"JordanJordan Crawford, 34, outside the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday. Photo \/ Belinda Feek<\/p>\n

In April, the pair was again travelling around Karapiro and began arguing over the victim\u2019s previous relationships.<\/p>\n

Crawford, who was driving, punched the victim in the face.<\/p>\n

He pulled over and tried to grab her T-shirt, but she ran off into a bush for safety.<\/p>\n

When questioned by police, Crawford said; \u201cShe hit me first, so it became a hit for a hit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was addicted to meth at the time\u2019<\/p>\n

Crawford had earlier accepted a sentence indication from Judge Cocurullo of a 30-month prison starting point, with a 20% discount for his guilty pleas.<\/p>\n

His counsel, Catriona Kunac, was tasked with not only keeping him out of jail, but getting a further 5% discount for her client\u2019s addiction and background issues, and rehabilitation prospects.<\/p>\n

She explained that he\u2019d been upfront about his meth addiction, which she said was at the forefront when this offending took place. He had also been homeless and living out of a car.<\/p>\n

However, he now had a property available for home detention.<\/p>\n

She said this was his first time before the court on violence charges, and he hasn\u2019t had the opportunity of a rehabilitative sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not much interested in a rehabilitative sentence for him, frankly,\u201d Judge Cocurullo said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does he need rehabilitation from?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kunac said he had an issue with meth that he had been upfront about.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we want him in the racing industry, out of it on meth, in a sulky, behind a horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want someone out of it on meth in a sulky behind a horse, would you?\u201d the judge asked Crawford\u2019s support person, who was now retired from the horse racing scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, no,\u201d the man replied.<\/p>\n

\"HamiltonHamilton District Court Judge Noel Cocurullo. Photo \/ Dani Zollickhofer<\/p>\n

Kunac said Crawford was now in a much better position, had a job and was staying away from drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just sick of men who hit women, Ms Kunac,\u201d the judge said to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then turned to Crawford.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour behaviour was cowardly,\u201d the judge told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe comes here and whinges, please don\u2019t send me to jail,\u201d the judge then put to Kunac.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s utter gratuitous violence. He\u2019s got the courage to smack her … even so far as \u2018you made me do it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kunac said she wasn\u2019t trying to excuse her client\u2019s behaviour, but the meth and homelessness were part of his circumstances at the time.<\/p>\n

She persisted with her push for home detention, reiterated that he was now clean, had no previous convictions for violence, and was keen to stay in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not remotely interested in him continuing to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job is keeping the community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Time will tell if your meth problem continues\u2019<\/p>\n

After taking a break to consider his fate, the judge returned and agreed to sentence him to home detention, \u201cdespite his better judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he wasn\u2019t impressed that Crawford told a pre-sentence report writer that the victim had \u201cembellished\u201d what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have thought anyone in the racing industry would have you behind any horse, munted on methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime will tell as to whether that continues to be a problem for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Cocurullo warned him that another violence conviction meant he\u2019d be going to jail, as it was his lack of those specific convictions that kept him in the community.<\/p>\n

He issued him a final warning and sentenced him to 10 months\u2019 home detention, along with conditions not to drink, do drugs, or contact the victim. <\/p>\n

He also ordered Crawford to pay the victim $1500 in emotional harm reparation.<\/p>\n

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Crawford had earlier admitted assault on a person in a family relationship and three charges of assault with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,1558,3595,92642,49579,17898,19552,89689,16802,3958,31181,16507,111,139,69,5502,181286,8442,181285,3512,30619,213,181284,6859,102],"class_list":["post-338782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-been","tag-by","tag-coward","tag-crawford","tag-didnt","tag-driver","tag-harness","tag-jordan","tag-judge","tag-labelled","tag-lucky","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partner","tag-penchant","tag-prison","tag-punching","tag-racing","tag-repeatedly","tag-sports","tag-thug","tag-told","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338782","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=338782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}