Street justice after assault

A Porirua man who punched a woman in the face, claiming it was unintentional, has been sentenced to 120 hours’ community work.

Valilio Junior Lio, 26, pleaded guilty to a charge of male assaults female in Porirua District Court last Tuesday.

Police prosecutor Lisa Thomson said in court that Lio assaulted a 19-year-old woman outside Metro Bar in Porirua on July 27.

She said the father- of- one bumped into the woman and her companion as he was leaving the bar about 1.50am, when a large family gathering was winding down.

The trio argued, and the woman and her companion walked away.

Lio followed them and confronted the woman’s companion.

When the woman tried to intervene, Lio punched her in the face.

Thomson said Lio had offered no explanation for his actions.

However, defence counsel Peter Ross said Lio claimed he thought the woman was about to slap someone accompanying him, and he had tried to stop her by pushing her shoulder, from where his hand slipped on to her face.

Judge Bill Hastings said the woman’s injury – a cut to the inside of her lower lip – was consistent with either a punch or an open-handed slap.

‘‘Either way it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to the sentence imposed,’’ he said.

The judge read part of the woman’s victim impact statement, which said that though physically she had sustained only a cut lip and swelling, it was an emotional shock.

Lio had previous convictions for violence, but most were combined with other charges and had not involved domestic violence, his lawyer said.

He said Lio’s intoxication, which his client claimed was rare for him, had been a trigger point for the assault.

He also noted that street justice had been swiftly meted out by a carload of people who had driven past. After they set upon Lio, he was left bleeding from the head and mouth, and missing teeth.