T
he sentencing of
former All Black Keith Robinson for assault has been put off
for a day after police documents revealed inconsistent
accounts of what happened.
Robinson, 36, appeared in Rotorua District Court today[30/01]
for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of
injuring with intent to injure. The charge relates to an
assault on December 9 outside the Palace Hotel in Te Aroha.
Witnesses reported the 1.97m, 116kg former lock had been part
of a group of about 50 men on a "man-cave" tour of several
properties around Te Aroha, when he became involved in a
verbal altercation with a man at the hotel.
The man, a Te Aroha local, was said to be about 1.65m tall
and about 50 years old. A witness said Robinson pushed the
man and punched him in the face. He was also accused of
throwing full bottles at the man.
Robinson pleaded guilty to the charge in the Hamilton
District Court on December 20 and was to have been sentenced
in Hamilton yesterday. However, that was moved to Rotorua
today as his Rotorua-based lawyer Moana Dorset was
unavailable yesterday.
In court today Judge James Weir said there was a divergence
between the police summary of facts and what was contained in
other police disclosure documents, including the notebook of
the police officer who attended the scene.
"How can I sentence him today based on that summary of facts?
I can't can I because it's clearly incorrect," Judge Weir
said.
He said the victim's two victim impact statements also
differed from what was recorded in the notebooks, including
the victim at the time being recorded as saying he didn't
want to talk about it or make a complaint and that he had
"got what he deserved". The video footage also appeared to
differ from the summary of facts, the judge said.
Ms Dorset said a statement from a witness at the scene had
described the victim as being "mouthy and lippy" and
"annoying all day". She submitted there was some dispute as
to the extent of injuries suffered by the victim.
Ms Dorset told the court Robinson had pleaded guilty at the
earliest opportunity, which was before the police summary of
facts was completed.
She said she had not received some of the other documents
until today and agreed with the judge they were inconsistent
with the summary. Robinson was keen for the matter to be
dealt with as soon as possible, she said.
Judge Weir ordered the police and Ms Dorset to sort out the
discrepancies and agree on a summary of facts by tomorrow
when Robinson will re-appear in the Rotorua District Court
for sentencing.
- Katie Holland of the Daily Post
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