A 19-year-old Frankton man was denied bail by Judge Michael Turner in the Queenstown District Court yesterday, after disappearing for two weeks.
Sylek Mikaere appeared in the Queenstown District Court on November 17 on a charge of injuring Andrew Lee with intent on October 30.
Judge Turner said yesterday while Mikaere had the ''presumption of innocence'', the charge was serious and stemmed from an incident when Mikaere allegedly picked up a chair and struck the complainant ''a number of times'' with it.
''It's said you admitted to police doing that and it was seen on CCTV. The case against you ... appears to be quite strong.''
Mikaere was initially remanded on relatively strict bail conditions, but breached those within a week and appeared before a justice of the peace to have the breach certified.
At that stage, bail conditions were not to associate with the alleged victim, not to buy or consume drugs or alcohol and a curfew to his home address between 7pm and 7am.
Yesterday, Judge Turner said Mikaere, after being readmitted to bail, disappeared from his family home on or about December 22, breaching both the condition of residence and the curfew.
''To your credit, you seem to have gone back home this morning and your mother has brought you in.''
Judge Turner said Mikaere's parents were not in a position to have him at home long-term and he would not release him ''back into a situation where your parents are stressed''.
''At the minute, I can't trust you to comply [with bail conditions].''
Duty solicitor Liam Collins said Mikaere was suffering from some ''ill health, mentally'', had been stressed due to the case before the court, which he denied, and the family illnesses had also affected him.
''He was camping to get his head straight and sort it out.
''He came this morning ... to do the right thing.''
Judge Turner remanded Mikaere in custody until Monday when another bail application would be made.
