A Queenstown carpenter has been sentenced to 12 months’ supervision after earlier admitting a representative charge of assaulting a person he was in a family relationship with, between July 3 and 6 this year.
A charge of strangulation laid against Morgan John Steur-Clarke (34) was withdrawn by police.
In the Queenstown District Court yesterday, Judge Russell Walker said the incident began when the victim visited Clarke’s home to pick up a dog they were sharing.
He was sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle and when she approached the car the pair got into an argument.
The woman leaned in through the passenger’s side, and Steur-Clarke slapped her once to the face. She then punched him.
He got out of the car, walked to where she was standing and ‘‘threw her on to the vehicle’’.
She fell to the ground and while there he ‘‘stomped’’ on her right thigh.
The victim got up and yelled at him, so he punched her to the left side of her chin, then picked her up and carried her inside where he threw her against a wall.
She ran from the house and drove away.
In her victim impact statement she said she feared for her safety and the safety of people around her. Steur-Clarke had a long history of violence and a record of not showing any remorse.
Defence counsel Paige Noorland said Steur-Clarke’s offending related to drug use and alcohol, and he would benefit from further rehabilitation.
He had spent the past three months in custody, but had full-time employment on offer when he was released, and had a good support network in Queenstown.
‘‘His time in custody has been a significant wake-up call for him,’’ Ms Noorland said.
‘‘At the age of 34, he’s somewhat ashamed at where he finds himself.
‘‘He’s surrounded by people owning their own businesses, building their own houses, and he wants to strive to that.. [but] he has to pull his head out of the sand.
In a letter to the court, Steur-Clarke said he was deeply ashamed for what had happened and he would stay on the ‘‘straight and narrow’’ from now on.
Along with the supervision sentence, with special conditions, a protection order was issued against Steur-Clarke.
An existing sentence of supervision was cancelled.
- Court reporter
