When interviewed by the police after beating up his partner, a Dunedin man claimed he was "not a woman basher".
After being charged with assault in a family relationship, however, Shane Leigh McDowell’s stance changed.
The 36-year-old forestry worker appeared before the Dunedin District Court this week, where he was sentenced to four months’ community detention and 12 months’ intensive supervision.
When the domestic violence took place, on October 30 last year, the court heard, McDowell was serving a sentence of supervision for his third drink-driving conviction.
The court heard on that occasion he was found asleep in his car in February 2020 with half a bottle of vodka in the footwell.
The rehabilitative sentence imposed, however, did not have the desired effect.
Less then five months after his sentencing, McDowell arrived home late and began arguing with his partner in the bedroom.
The altercation became physical when they moved to the lounge and each reached for the other’s phone.
McDowell responded by pulling off the victim’s top and standing over her.
He struck her in the jaw with an open hand and followed her back to the bedroom where he pulled off a second shirt she had just put on.
The court heard the defendant pushed her on to the bed, pulled a wooden drawer from a nearby dresser and threw it at her.
It hit the victim in the thigh which caused her to bleed and she retreated to the lounge in which she barricaded herself using a couch.
McDowell made a disparaging comment about the woman’s ethnicity, called her a bad mother and said he wanted a divorce, a police summary revealed.
The defendant later denied inflicting any violence and said the bruises on his partner’s arms would have been from him protecting himself from her.
Despite the incident, the couple remained committed to their relationship and wanted to attend couples counselling.
At a restorative-justice conference, McDowell apologised and agreed to attend therapy for his violence and alcohol issues.
The defendant was assessed as a medium risk of reoffending and Probation noted he had poor problem-solving skills and impulse control.
Judge Josephine Bouchier imposed a protection order in favour of the victim.
