First strike warning for attack

A Blenheim man has admitted grievous bodily harm after repeatedly hitting his family friend over the head with a baseball bat, causing a deep laceration.

Connor John Tebbutt, 25, was at his parents’ house in Blenheim, watching rugby and drinking home-brew whisky with a family friend and an associate about 1am on November 2, last year. He had known the 53-year-old family friend since he was a child.

Tebbutt had been ‘‘verbally annoying’’ the victim throughout the evening, and eventually a verbal disagreement ensued, a police summary of facts said.

While the victim sat at the table, Tebbutt went outside and picked up a baseball bat. With both hands on the bat handle, he swung the bat over his shoulder the down onto the victim’s head. The force split the victim’s head open and knocked him off the stool and onto the ground.

Tebbutt kept hitting the back of the victim’s head as he lay on the ground trying to cover his face. He also jabbed the end of the bat into the victim’s face several times.

The associate grabbed the bat off the defendant and threw it to the ground.

While he went to help the victim, Tebbutt picked up the bat and threatened to do the same to him.

The associate helped the victim to leave the property. When they reached the gate,

Tebbutt approached them with the bat again, threatening to hit them both.

Police arrived a short time later and arrested him. At the Picton police station, Tebbutt refused a request for fingerprints and photographs.

At the Blenheim District Court on Monday, Tebbutt pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm using a weapon, threatening to cause grievous bodily harm and refusing to give identification particulars to police.

His lawyer Rob Harrison said he had been on bail for four months and was currently employed at a waste disposal plant.

He was trying to save as much as he could – likely to be a ‘‘four figure sum’’ – which could be paid to the victim as an emotional harm payment, Harrison said.

Jeremy Cameron, representing the Crown, opposed bail on the grounds he was likely to be sentenced to jail.

Judge Richard Russell considered Tebbutt’s personal circumstances, including the fact he had no bail breaches, and granted bail until sentencing on June 15.

He also gave Tebbutt his first strike under the ‘‘three strikes law’’, which means those who commit a second serious violent or sexual offence and are sentenced to prison will not be eligible for parole. Offenders convicted of a third strike were sentenced to the maximum penalty available.