In another assault<\/a>, he placed her into an MMA hold known as the scorpion position and every time she tried to stand, he punched her in the head. He also dragged her into the shower and ran hot water over her.<\/p>\nThe two-day nightmare eventually ended when one of the children escaped and alerted the neighbours.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe truly is my forever hero,\u201d the woman told the court.<\/p>\n
The victim said her recovery was slow, not only physically but also because of the deep psychological trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt shame, guilt for my children, loss of dignity. I felt powerless in trying my best to hold it all together again and I fell into a depression and was getting frustrated with my kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy home started to feel like a place I didn\u2019t want to be in no more. I would sleep on the couch or sleep in my children\u2019s rooms because of what had happened in my bed and room.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor every court hearing that I was informed about, I made sure I was out of town or at a family member\u2019s house for at least two days before going home because I was so fearful his friends or family could retaliate against me because of the outcome of the hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I am proud of who I see\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the horror the woman endured, she has since created a life for her children full of laughter, love and hugs, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud of who I see in the mirror. I am proud of me taking all these steps to be the person I am today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no regrets knowing I did the right thing in being the third generation of breaking a cycle of abuse towards women in my family \u2013 so it stops with me. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy children will know not to stand for any kind of behaviour by a man or a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman had some final words for her ex-partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give you back your korowai, your whakapapa and every negative intention you gave to me, my children and my family because it was never my responsibility to carry or hold, as well as it was never my responsibility to turn a boy into a man. That choice was always yours and yours alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer David Reece said the man was now a changed person and was remorseful for what he had done.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a good job, he had a good income but he spent money on drugs. That drug use is the basis for offending which has led him down the path he is now,\u201d Reece said.<\/p>\n
Reece submitted that the man had been going through a tough time following a family death, but Crown lawyer Richard Annandale hit back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loss of [the family member] has to be seen against the fact that this was family violence against family members. He\u2019s effectively pushed himself away by his own conduct,\u201d Annandale challenged.<\/p>\n
Annandale said if it was not for the bravery of the child, who knows what would have happened.<\/p>\n
Judge Davis pointed out to the man that it had taken two years for the victim to get back on her feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s had to completely relocate just to get back to a measure of reality. I have to impress upon you the significant impact on her and the children as victims of this offending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Davis said the most serious charge was the kidnapping, integrated with the violent offending that occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou subjected her to a prolonged, sustained period of assaults. She tried to get away but you prevented her from doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Davis jailed the man for 13 years and six months.<\/p>\n
He must serve a minimum of five years before becoming eligible for parole.<\/p>\n
Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ordeal may have ended another way if not for one child who slipped out of the house…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19838,9092,59502,2082,27343,3958,20925,5158,111,43,139,69,13118,1869,1530],"class_list":["post-473356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-19838","tag-against","tag-expartner","tag-for","tag-jails","tag-judge","tag-kidnapping","tag-man","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-violence","tag-whangrei","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473356","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=473356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}