A senior public servant has been told never to drink again after a sustained attack on his former partner.
The man, aged in his 30s, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to assault with intent to injure.
But the public official can never be named after Judge David Robinson suppressed his identity and that of his employer.
It was done to protect the victim, the judge said.
The court heard the woman had attended a work function with the couple’s youngest child in November last year.
When she returned home, the defendant reacted angrily to hearing she had let someone babysit the child.
The victim backed off, but the man, who had been consuming alcohol while she was out, began picking up items and pelting her with them.
Counsel Andrew Dawson stressed most of them were toys and unlikely to cause any damage.
But that changed when the man launched a wooden coaster at his partner, hitting her in the head.
With the victim on the floor, he slapped her face, splitting her lip.
The man pursued even when she crawled away, striking her in the body.
Photographs of the woman’s lacerations and bruising made for "quite disturbing viewing", Judge Robinson said.
"All down to you, your loss of control, you seeking to assert yourself over a person you professed to love."
After the attack, the couple spoke briefly before the victim retreated to the bathroom and called police.
The defendant admitted to attending officers that he had pushed his partner, but declined to elaborate further.
The incident had resulted in the pair separating and in a statement the woman underscored the toll the assault had taken on her physical and emotional wellbeing.
She said she hoped the flashpoint was the "wake-up call" the defendant clearly needed.
Mr Dawson said it had been.
He called his client "a much humbled and changed man", said he had sworn off alcohol and been undertaking counselling for that and violence.
The court heard the defendant had also taken up yoga and become more open with friends and family as a way to alleviate stress.
Judge Robinson accepted the man had done everything possible to respond to his crime.
He was sentenced to four months’ community detention and 12 months’ supervision.
The judge stressed the greatest challenge for the defendant, though, would come once the sentence was completed and the oversight of the court ended.
"In my reading, alcohol has blighted your life and the lives of those closely connected with you," he said.
"If you think you can manage alcohol, you’re fooling yourself and you’re taking the first step towards walking through that door into the courtroom."
