A Frankton mother who pleaded guilty in the Queenstown
District Court yesterday to an assault charge was described
as a "thug" by Judge Dominic Flatley, who questioned her
appropriateness for having a child.
Horiana Teoti Whatuira (20), unemployed, was charged after an
unprovoked incident in Frankton on October 11, when she
punched another mother in the face, knocking her 16-month-old
son from his pushchair after the two women had traded
parenting insults via text message and Facebook.
Prosecutor Sergeant Ian Collin said Whatuira was driving in
Lake Ave at 12.30pm when she saw the victim pushing her son
in a pushchair.
She stopped and got out of her car to talk about money the
victim owed her and "without warning ... grabbed hold of the
victim's hair, pulling her to the ground and began to punch
the victim in the head".
As Whatuira continued the assault, she knocked over the
pushchair and the unfastened infant "spilled to the ground",
he said.
Both mother and son received minor facial injuries, including
cuts and bruising, but did not need medical attention.
Whatuira's lawyer, Phena Byrne, said the text and Facebook
messages between the two women were "not pleasant" and had
highlighted her client's "mothering skills"; "manifesting" in
the assault on the mother and son.
Judge Flatley said he was "disturbed" by the "appalling
assault" by Whatuira, herself a mother of a young child.
"You attack her and she's pushing a baby in a pram and the
baby falls out ... this is not the Bronx," he said.
"I don't understand people like you.
"It just makes you a thug ...
"I question the appropriateness of you having a child."
Judge Flatley remanded Whatuira for sentencing on December 13
and ordered her to undergo a pre-sentence mental-health
assessment.
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