{"id":431825,"date":"2026-05-17T09:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431825\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T09:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:46:09","slug":"zyla-butlers-frenzied-fight-at-hamilton-motel-sees-26-punches-thrown-woman-stabbed-five-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431825\/","title":{"rendered":"Zyla Butler\u2019s frenzied fight at Hamilton motel sees 26 punches thrown, woman stabbed five times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Butler appeared in the Hamilton District Court<\/a> this week for a disputed facts hearing to determine how she received her injuries and whether they amounted to provocation, followed by her sentencing.<\/p>\n

Having admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and injuring with intent to injure, Butler said she suffered a fractured eye socket, cuts to her hairline and under her eye, and a black eye. <\/p>\n

She also told the court she underwent surgery to have a nasal plate inserted to \u201ckeep my eye up\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Keep the noise down\u2019<\/p>\n

The court heard the victim had been asleep in her unit when she was woken by a man remonstrating with the cleaner outside her front door.<\/p>\n

She went out and asked the man to keep the noise down.<\/p>\n

Butler then walked over to find out what was going on, threw a can of beer at the victim\u2019s window and began verbally abusing her.<\/p>\n

Butler pulled out her phone and began filming before the victim slapped it out of her hand, and it smashed on the ground.<\/p>\n

Butler launched at her, chased her into her motel room and punched her 26 times in an attack that lasted about 90 seconds.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, the victim emerged from the room with a bloody face and then went back inside.<\/p>\n

\"JudgeJudge Gordon Matenga presided over the hearing. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n

Butler returned, ran back in, then left again.<\/p>\n

When she returned a third time, she had a knife and lunged at the victim with it.<\/p>\n

The victim locked herself in her bathroom, but Butler kicked it open and stabbed her again.<\/p>\n

The victim managed to get out, running down her stairs and seeking help.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m used to getting whacks\u2019<\/p>\n

At the hearing, Butler was quizzed at length by Crown prosecutor Lexie Glaser.<\/p>\n

There was much to and fro about whether she suffered her eye injury in the first or subsequent fight.<\/p>\n

Butler said it was initially, while Glaser put to her that it must have been subsequently, as no injury to her face could be seen on the CCTV.<\/p>\n

Glaser asked her why she attacked the victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she was frustrating me,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was how I was being spoken to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glaser said that Butler had made the conscious decision to get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Butler replied. \u201cI could have stayed in my flat and called police. But I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Butler said she couldn\u2019t recall how many times she punched the victim, she accepted it was 26.<\/p>\n

Speaking to her injury, Butler claimed the victim stabbed her in the face with a knife, as she had one nearby on the internal stairs of her room.<\/p>\n

Glaser put to her that the victim never had time to grab a knife.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I got hit in the face somehow,\u201d Butler replied. \u201cMy eye was swollen shut. I couldn\u2019t see out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler said the cut to her face couldn\u2019t be seen in the initial footage due to its quality.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe hearing took place in the Hamilton District Court. <\/p>\n

\u201cI lived it,\u201d Butler told Glaser. \u201cYou\u2019re assuming it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glaser asked if Butler was hit with that much force, why didn\u2019t she stumble?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust adrenaline and wanting to fight,\u201d she responded. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou wanted to fight?\u201d Glaser replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had my teeth kicked out before by an ex-partner and spat them back at him because it didn\u2019t hurt at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to do boxing, so I\u2019m used to getting whacks in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018An unfortunate altercation\u2019<\/p>\n

Counsel Philip Morgan, KC, said while the victim suffered five stab wounds, they were small, and the fifth was so small it didn\u2019t require stitches.<\/p>\n

He said the severity of the victim\u2019s injuries and his client\u2019s intent to injure her was already reflected in the charge and its maximum penalty of 14 years\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wrong to say there\u2019s a whole lot of aggravating features, like the wounds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were little cuts, 2cm, and they were all to the extremities, arms and legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan said this was an \u201cunfortunate altercation\u201d to which the victim was also a contributor, and resulted in his client stabbing her.<\/p>\n

He urged the judge to show some \u201ccompassion\u201d to Butler and her \u201cabysmal\u201d history and upbringing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that this defendant is somebody to be pitied rather than to be classed, in extravagant terms, as being just plain evil.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has had an awful childhood, and her adulthood has been awful as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result of all of this is that she suffers from schizophrenia and delusional disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201c[She] had to resort to sex work to live. She lost her children … she resorts to alcohol and drugs, but it turns out they diminish the effectiveness of the anti psychotic medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan said Butler didn\u2019t go out looking for a fight that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew up, spontaneously.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for the complainant rushing out and knocking the phone out of her hand, this would never have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Illuminating and insightful\u2019<\/p>\n

Judge Gordon Matenga said it was necessary to discuss the facts before sentencing Butler, and found her evidence to be \u201cilluminating and insightful\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said he couldn\u2019t see any injury to her face after the first incident, but could see that an injury had developed after the stabbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible that you could have been injured in that first incident and the injury only became evident later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, the view I have taken is that it does not make much difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge accepted that had the victim not slapped the phone out of Butler\u2019s hand, it was possible the attack may not have occurred. However he found her reaction was \u201cquite frankly, uncalled for and completely over the top\u201d.<\/p>\n

The victim received stitches for four of her stab wounds and remained in pain, wondering \u201chow a person could do this to another human being\u201d.<\/p>\n

While Judge Matenga accepted Butler was open and forthcoming in questioning, \u201cat no stage did I detect from you any acceptance of your responsibility here\u201d.<\/p>\n

He took a starting point of six and a half years\u2019 imprisonment before allowing discounts of 40% for her plea, remorse and background.<\/p>\n

Butler was then jailed for three years, 10 months and 24 days, and issued her first strike warning.<\/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":"Butler appeared in the Hamilton District Court this week for a disputed facts hearing to determine how she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23283,1975,159062,15124,1342,221064,6288,42,4274,43,85935,29647,72230,25447,14005,40,38,41,39,1354,221063],"class_list":["post-431825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-23283","tag-at","tag-butlers","tag-fight","tag-five","tag-frenzied","tag-hamilton","tag-headlines","tag-motel","tag-news","tag-punches","tag-sees","tag-stabbed","tag-thrown","tag-times","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-woman","tag-zyla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431825","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=431825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}