‘Appalling example of humanity’ – judge
Asking someone for a plastic bag has left a man without a sense of smell or taste after he was assaulted in an unprovoked attack. But it was the attacker’s actions afterwards that riled a judge the most.
Judge Jim Large told the Levin District Court yesterday that Reihana Lindsay Nahona fleeing from the scene was cowardly. ‘‘That is an appalling example of humanity,’’ the judge said.
Nahona, 23, was sentenced to eight months’ home detention for injuring with reckless disregard.
The assault took place on August 12, 2017, after Nahona had been drinking at a Palmerston North bar. He stood by a car on Main St and argued with someone inside, while the victim and some friends walked up the road.
Nahona became angry when the victim asked for a plastic bag and, without provocation, punched him in the face. The victim fell, hitting his head on the kerb. As the victim lay unconscious, Nahona jumped in the car and told the person he had been arguing with to drive away.
Nahona avoided arrest for more than a year, with police catching him after a plea on Police Ten 7. He pleaded guilty after getting a sentence indication. The judge said the victim had a cracked skull, chipped tooth and spine, and bleeding on the brain.
He was in an induced coma for 10 days and never regained his sense of smell or taste.
Prison was a potential punishment, but changes Nahona had made pushed him towards home detention, the judge said.
Nahona had his first job and was going to alcohol counselling. He wrote a letter of apology to the victim. He described his actions as cowardly and said he would never forgive himself.
Nahona would have been sentenced to 12 months’ prison if home detention was ruled out. The judge bumped it up to eight months, saying the seriousness of unprovoked attacks on the street had to be recognised by the courts.