Nathan George Hastie had been to rehab for his drug addiction and his mother believed he was regaining control of his life.
But a nine-hour drinking binge put paid to that.
The 31-year-old defendant was jailed for three years when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on a slew of violence charges.
His mother wrote a reference to the court describing her boy as a "fun-loving, happy-go-lucky person who would help friends and family when they were in need''.
He was a different person under the influence of drink and drugs, she said.
And so it was on December 4.
In the afternoon of the previous day, Hastie and his partner had been to a barbecue in Northeast Valley.
They got home at 6.30pm and began drinking.
Both Hastie and his partner got through a box of premixed drinks before opting to continue the session in town.
Their flatmate stayed at home to look after their two children.
The couple visited several bars in the Octagon before getting a taxi home at 3.45am.
They had not been home long before an argument erupted while the victim was sitting on the back doorstep smoking a cigarette.
Hastie smashed a window beside his partner then kicked her in the back of the head.
She lay there pretending to be knocked out but it did not provoke any sympathy in the defendant.
When the victim grabbed a knife from the kitchen and told Hastie to leave her alone he grabbed the weapon and punched her twice in the face.
The attack continued after he dragged the woman to the lounge, where he continued punching and kicking her.
"This is what you wanted,'' he told her during the beating.
Their flatmate woke up to smashing and screaming and heard Hastie threaten to slit the victim's throat.
He found the defendant kneeling on the woman's neck while holding the 30cm blade against it.
The victim was making "gurgling sounds'', he told police.
The violence continued after he had taken the children to a neighbouring property.
The victim eventually fled to a police car outside.
"She was hysterical and covered in blood,'' a summary said.
Hastie came out of the house and told officers: "I did nothing wrong''.
But in court yesterday his counsel Meg Scally said he was horrified by his behaviour.
He was committed to addressing his addiction issues while behind bars and had apologised to his former partner at a restorative justice conference, the court heard.
Judge Michael Crosbie described the incident as "extremely serious, drunken and gratuitous violence ... atrocious, appalling offending''.
He was heartened though to hear Hastie was motivated to change.
"You have still got a long road as far as recovery is concerned,'' he said.
Along with the prison term, Hastie was banned from driving for three years (for drink-driving five weeks before the attack) and ordered to pay more than $2000 reparation.
