Man warned of jail sentence for further assault on grandmother

‘‘APPEAR before me again for treating this woman in an appalling way and I’ll find you a bed in a concrete building,’’ Judge Kevin Phillips told a man whose offending he found ‘‘abhorrent’’.

‘‘Remember my warning. And remember it well,’’ he told Robert Austen Tupuhi (28).

Tupuhi was before the Dunedin District Court convicted of Summary Offences Act charges of threatening behaviour, and wil ful damage. He had pleaded guilty.

The police summary said Tupuhi’s grandmother had cared for him in the past and he had moved back in with his young family to stay with her.

At her home, about 10.30am on January 23, he became very upset she had touched his belongings and started yelling, swearing and verbally abusing her.

He pulled two ornaments from shelves in a cabinet in the dining room causing them to break as they hit the floor, then threw an antique chair out a sliding door on to some concrete causing a leg to break off.

His grandmother did not try to intervene as he continued to yell, scream and rampage around the house. Instead, she went to look after his son.

While she was trying to prepare a drink bottle for the child, Tupuhi grabbed a jug of water out of her hands, then smashed the jug lid on the bench.

During the commotion, a wooden magazine holder was smashed.

Tupuhi yelled at his grandmother to get out of the house as he was ‘‘losing it’’.

She did and drove to the police station.

Tupuhi followed her on foot and arrived a short time later. He talked her back into the car and took her home.

Once there, he threatened to smash up everything in the house belonging to her if she spoke to police. He further threatened to burn down the house if she contacted police.

After demanding she give him her cell phone, he left the address in her car.

Counsel Noel Rayner said Tupuhi accepted he had an anger management issue and was willing to engage in a rehabilitation programme.

Tupuhi’s grandmother was particularly important in his life. He acknowledged the help she had given him and had money for reparation.

Tupuhi and his partner now had a home they were renting.

Describing Tupuhi’s offending as abhorrent, the judge said he had been looked after by his grandmother who loved him and provided him with support. His behaviour had been ‘‘just disgusting’’.

On each charge Tupuhi was given concurrent sentences of 100 hours’ community work and nine months’ supervision. He was also to pay the $200 reparation sought, the judge said.