A "drunk and out of control" wedding guest strangled the father of the groom, using the groom’s father’s own hair.
Chance Edwards, 26, of Dunedin, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week after earlier admitting strangulation, possessing a weapon and wilful damage.
The court heard that on February 2, the defendant was a groomsman at a wedding and got into a fight with another man.
The groom’s father restrained him but when he was released, he punched the groom’s father in the face and the pair fell to the ground.
Edwards then wrapped the victim’s long hair around most of his neck, turning him shades of purple and blue.
The blood vessels in his eyes ruptured as a result of the strangulation and he also had a sore ribcage and lost some hair.
The defendant was pulled off the man and while the victim managed to walk away, he was "unsteady and spaced out".
Police arrived and found Edwards heavily intoxicated and upset, and unable to explain what had occurred.
In a statement to the court, the victim said he had nightmares and flashbacks from the incident, as well as physical pain.
While Edwards was on bail for that offending, the defendant was driving behind another vehicle tooting his horn.
The man he was following pulled over and Edwards stopped next to him and verbally abused the man.
When the victim drove off, the defendant tailgated him until again the pair stopped.
Edwards pulled a cricket bat from his car and demanded the victim leave his vehicle.
As the man tried to leave, the defendant hit his car with the cricket bat.
This week, Judge David Robinson noted Edwards was unable to offer any real explanation for why he attacked the man at the wedding.
"You were drunk and out of control," the judge said.
"I can’t imagine how your behaviour detracted from what otherwise should’ve been a happy day for everyone else involved."
The judge noted the "obvious and enduring harm" the strangulation caused the victim.
"It’s coercive, it’s intimidating and frankly it was your way of telling your victim that, literally, his life was in your hands."
He noted Edwards’ good rehabilitative prospects and remorse for his crimes.
Judge Robinson sentenced Edwards to 12 months’ home detention and 200 hours’ community work.
"This is as close to a sentence of imprisonment as you can get. If you put a foot wrong ... you will have given me no other option but to sentence you to a term of imprisonment," the judge said.
Edwards had displayed violent tendencies before.
In 2019, he was one of four defendants who beat up a man after finding out he was a sex offender.
The vigilante justice left the victim with concussion, a laceration to his head and a fractured neck.
Edwards received a sentence of seven months’ home detention and 190 hours’ community work for his part that offending.
