Bashed woman scarred forever
A woman suffered a fractured skull and was left for dead before a neighbour found her cold and soaked in blood.
Apai Te Whaiti, 36, repeatedly struck the woman’s head until she was knocked unconscious, before fleeing her property with three bicycles, a wallet and the woman’s keys.
The woman told the Palmerston North District Court she suffered fractures, cuts and grazes to her face, skull and body during the April 18 assault. She needed facial reconstruction and has been left with permanent scarring.
Te Whaiti was on Wednesday sentenced to five years and four months’ imprisonment. He pleaded guilty to aggravated wounding and burglary.
A psychological report stated Te Whaiti had a history of committing burglaries to alleviate stress, Judge Jim Large said.
‘‘My life has changed forever,’’ the victim told Te Whaiti in court. ‘‘I will never again feel the freedom I once had. You viciously attacked me, changed my life, and that’s something you are responsible for.’’
Large told the court harrowing details of the assault, which involved Te Whaiti leaving the woman for dead. Following his escape, Large said a neighbour found the woman ‘‘cold, shaking and covered blood’’.
‘‘Your behaviour was brutal. There is no other word for it.’’
Te Whaiti entered the woman’s property, where he found three bicycles. She returned as he was loading them into his car.
Te Whaiti claimed he bought the bicycles from a man inside the house and hit the woman in the back of the head after she pushed for more details.
She was knocked to the ground as Te Whaiti repeatedly struck her head, splitting her ear, breaking her nose and fracturing her skull.
A neighbour heard the woman’s screams, but Te Whaiti told them he was her husband and that she had been in a motorcycle accident. He dragged her along a gravel driveway, before escaping with her wallet and keys.
‘‘I remember the photographs of how you left the victim,’’ Large said. ‘‘I think the public do need to be protected from you.’’
In front of her mother, partner and neighbour, the woman recalled lying on the concrete, waiting for an ambulance, thinking she was going to die.
She pulled out of university, lost confidence and feared being home alone.
‘‘Having the mindset you should be safe on your own property in broad daylight is gone,’’ she said.