A Cromwell man who thought his flatmate was strangling a woman hit him in the head with a glass.
Freezing worker Gareth Thomson (40) was sentenced to 12 months’ intensive supervision and 80 hours’ community work when he appeared before Judge Bernadette Farnan in the Queenstown District Court on Monday, having admitted a charge of assault with intent to injure, which stemmed from the October 25 incident in Cromwell.
About 1.30am Thomson was at home with the male victim and the victim’s partner. All three had been drinking heavily.
The defendant went inside, leaving the couple outside, but heard them arguing soon after.
When he went to investigate, he saw the victim kneeling over the female, who was lying on the ground.
The defendant approached the victim from behind and hit him twice to the head with a large glass handle from which he had been drinking.
He then called the police.
Thomson admitted hitting the victim and accused him of strangling the female.
The victim denied that and said he had ‘‘tackled her’’ to stop her smashing up the car.
The next day, the victim said he was helping his partner who was having a seizure, but understood why Thomson may have thought he was strangling her.
Judge Farnan said Thomson had three convictions in 1997, charges of assaulting a female in 2005, 2013 and 2016, and one of assault in 2008.
He had participated in restorative justice and had apologised for his actions. The victim, too, had apologised.
Thomson’s supervision sentence will be judicially monitored.
