A Lawrence pub-goer who assaulted a female tavern manager and beat up a shearer who tried to intervene has been jailed for three years.
Jamie Santana Tangiwaka Te Paea (30) was convicted of injury with intent to injure, and male assaults female, after a violent incident at the Coach and Horses Inn in the South Otago township last year.
He was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court on Tuesday.
Judge Michael Crosbie said Te Paea was outside in the smokers area on June 29 last year when he was asked to leave by the duty manager due to his aggressive drunken behaviour.
She attempted to escort him from the premises, but he struggled and pushed her backward.
As she got back to her feet Te Paea kicked her in the head, causing her to fall.
The second victim, a shearer, stepped in but a police summary of facts said Te Paea ‘‘got the better of the male patron and ended up on top of him’’.
He punched him in the face and head repeatedly, and again assaulted the female victim when she tried to pull Te Paea off the man.
When the male victim was back on his feet, Te Paea again punched him, knocking him out.
Both victims said in their victim impact statements the assaults had affected them.
Lawyer Deborah Henderson said neither wanted to participate in restorative justice.
Judge Crosbie said the duty manager reported experiencing headaches and migraines, and had trouble sleeping. She and her husband had switched responsibilities, and she was now looking after the cafe, not the tavern.
The male victim had lost wages due to days off work, and he believed the blows he received to the head had affected his personality.
‘‘What really gets me is that I was trying to protect a woman,’’ he said in his victim impact statement.
Te Paea was sentenced to three years in prison, and ordered to pay $630 in reparation to the male victim, whose cellphone was broken due to the attack.
