The jury deliberated for four hours yesterday before revealing their decision on the charge of assault with a weapon.
"He’s hammering her, he’s hammering her ... can someone please help her, ’cause that’s my daughter," the father said during the 111 call which was played to the jury.
Crown prosecutor Craig Power showed the jury the hammer Levi Troy Paul (38) used in the assault on August 1, 2020.
Constable Deirdre McKenna and Constable Rachel Lean arrived at the couple’s home about 10 minutes after the 111 call.
Upon receiving no response to knocking, they decided to enter.
Paul came out of a room at the end of the passageway holding a hammer, but dropped it quickly after being asked.
When Const McKenna asked why he had the hammer, Paul replied that it was from an earlier incident with his neighbours who were banging on the wall.
Paul was then asked about the woman’s parents seeing him assaulting their daughter.
"Honestly, look at her legs and see if I hit her repeatedly with a hammer. I did not hit her ... that’s the honest truth," he answered.
Meanwhile, Const Lean went into the bathroom and found the victim.
The woman said she was fine and nothing was happening, a stance she maintained at trial.
"If he had done that with a hammer, I wouldn’t have been in a good way ... I wouldn’t have been able to walk," she testified.
Both constables said they saw the woman had a red graze to her right cheekbone and bumps on her forehead.
They also noticed blood on her hoodie, and on a pillow and duvet in the bedroom.
However, the items were not analysed as they did not have enough staff working that night, and had to deal with Paul, who was agitated.
The hammer, though seized, also was not analysed.
Later that night, Const Lean went back to speak to the victim.
The woman opened the door while on another video chat with her parents, but refused the constable entry.
Const Lean testified she could hear the father telling her to tell the truth, but the door was slammed in the constable’s face before that could happen.
The next morning, Const McKenna spoke to the father again.
He said that his daughter told them she had bruises all over her legs but was scared Paul would lose his job.
Mr Power said that while the complainant denied the assault, she did so to cover for Paul.
Defence counsel Alan de Jager said there was not enough evidence to prove the charge.
Not only were items not analysed, but both father and daughter denied any memory of the events.
Further, Constable Maria Katoa testified that she said she did not see any injuries when she visited the woman the morning after.
Mr Power told the jury to focus on the 111 call and police reports from the night.
Paul is to be sentenced in August.
