A family clash over viewing the Royal wedding led to a man beating his wife with a lamp cord.
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's May 19 nuptials were celebrated around the world, it caused ructions in one Taieri Beach home.
When arborist Sean Geoffrey Albert Hancock (32) took a laptop from his stepdaughter it set in motion a chain of events that ended with him in the dock in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
The girl followed the defendant, arguing she was allowed to watch the glitzy event online, then went to appeal to her mother.
All three parties ended up in the girl's bedroom, where Hancock attempted to reach up and smash a light fixture.
When his partner stepped in to thwart him, he pushed her on to the bed, picked up a lamp from a nearby bedside table and raised it over his head.
Hancock struck the prone woman about three times on the upper body with the lamp cord, the court heard.
"During this incident, pieces of glass from the light fitting flew round the room, hitting the defendant's stepdaughter on her arms and forehead," a police summary said.
The girl suffered some minor cuts, as did her mother.
Hancock's rage was still brewing when police reached his home.
He refused to sit in the patrol car and when an officer tried to force him inside he straightened his legs and "began thrashing about".
The defendant later pleaded guilty to assaulting a female and resisting arrest.
His counsel, Anne Stevens, told the court her client had been diligently working on his issues at counselling and had put aside $2000 for his wife.
"Perhaps she could go on holiday," Mrs Stevens said.
While the couple were still living apart, Judge David Saunders said they were still in contact and planned to reunite.
Hancock and his partner had met for a restorative justice session and the defendant would move back into the family home when the time was right.
"The two of you have quite some insight," the judge said.
He imposed six months' supervision, which would allow Hancock to complete his stopping-violence treatment.
