A Fijian man has avoided a prison sentence for a series of alcohol-fuelled assaults in Cromwell and Queenstown.
Kaliova Kavoa Ratu, 32, builder, of Queenstown, was drinking with friends at a Cromwell tavern about midnight on March 10 when he tried to kiss a woman on the dance floor.
When she turned away from him, he grabbed her bottom and squeezed before turning his attention to a second woman.
When questioned about his actions, Ratu became angry and pushed the man in the chest before head-butting him.
The defendant shrugged off the efforts of other security staff to usher him outside before approaching the second victim again and trying to hug her.
He persisted in trying to grab her shoulders as she moved away from him before another security guard intervened.
A short time later, as a female associate of Ratu restrained the second victim, he punched her in the side of her head.
As he was finally being ejected from the tavern, he yelled at one of the security guards, threatening to "punch him and fight him" at the end of his shift.
At Ratu’s sentencing in the Queenstown District Court last week, police summarised the details of his serious assault of a woman in the resort town several weeks later.
On April 28, while on bail for his previous month’s offending, the defendant began arguing with a man in Camp St about 4.40am.
After some pushing and shoving, the man began walking away, but Ratu approached him from behind and the pair scuffled before being separated.
However, Ratu again pursued the man as he walked away with his partner, swinging at the couple with his left arm.
He struck the female victim’s head with his fist, knocking her to the ground and causing her head to hit the pavement.
She suffered concussion, bruising and a serious eye injury as a result.
Ratu was charged with assault, male assaults female, indecent assault, threatening behaviour, and injuring with reckless disregard in relation to all the incidents.
Reading from a statement by the final victim, Judge Mark Williams said she now had to wear glasses, and was forced to take time off work because of intense headaches and issues with working on a computer.
She felt terrified to leave home alone, was "easily triggered by men", suffered from anxiety and depression, and had incurred significant costs for medical treatment and counselling.
A pre-sentence report said Ratu had little memory of his actions because of his intoxication.
A self-described "binge drinker", he had given up alcohol, begun counselling, and removed himself from a social group in Cromwell that had been a negative influence.
Judge Williams said the offending was aggravated by the attacks to the head, the injuries caused and the vulnerability of the victims.
The defendant would now be liable for deportation.
From a starting point of three and a-half years’ imprisonment, he applied discounts for Ratu’s early guilty pleas, expression of remorse and lack of previous convictions.
He deducted another month because the defendant was employed, had a young child and had stayed out of trouble since April.
That allowed him, by a fine margin, to enter the convictions and convert the remaining two-year term of imprisonment to 12 months’ home detention at a Queenstown address.
Ratu must pay the victim of his April assault reparation of $1500.
