A man has been jailed for using a golf club to smash the windows of a Gore family’s car, home and business.
Hone Raniera Collier, 36, was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court on Friday for intentionally damaging the property of his ex-partner’s mother.
In the days leading up to the incident, Collier sent threatening text messages to his ex-partner and her family members, saying he was going to smash the windows of their business, the court heard.
The shearer then swung at two windows of the woman’s house before walking to the front of the building and smashing the windows of the family’s takeaway business.
Judge Mark Williams said these crimes happened just days after the man was sentenced in the Gore District Court for drink-driving and that, before the more recent offending, the man had drunk about 20 beers.
A pre-sentence report warned that Collier’s anger towards his victims remained.
While remanded in custody and despite a non-contact order, the defendant admitted writing a letter to one of the victims.
Counsel Tanya Surrey said her client misunderstood the order, thinking it only related to his once mother-in-law.
The judge said he found the letter ‘‘concerning’’ as well as the 36-year-old’s history of family harm.
He declined to convert the sentence to home detention as the proposed Gore address was only a two-minute drive from the victim’s address.
Collier was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with the option to apply for home detention if he found a more suitable address.
