Peacemaker claims rejected by judge
A TEENAGER involved in a boozy pack attack on a Wanaka tourist has had claims he was a peacemaker rubbished by a judge.
Sheridan Christopher Raynor Foot (18) appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on a charge of injuring with intent to injure following a January 20 incident at Puzzling World.
‘‘You were looking for trouble,’’ Judge Kevin Phillips said.
After Foot’s friend, 18yearold Taylor William Meikle, launched a racist rant against an Indian man and his son in the car park, things escalated.
While the defendants piled into their vehicle to leave the scene, a bystander apologised to the Indian man and an Australian tourist who had heard the commotion arrived on the scene.
The defendants’ ute reversed into a parked vehicle and as the tourist went to check the damage, three of the men got out of the vehicle.
One them threw a beer at the tourist as he backed off.
Foot, Meikle and another man who has denied allegations against him, waded in with fists flying.
The victim curled up on the ground while his wife and children looked on in terror.
Miekle pulled her away when she tried to intervene and another member of the group threatened to hit her.
During a break in the violence, the victim was pulled to his feet by a bystander, but the attack was then continued.
One of the defendants ran up to the man from behind and wrestled him to the ground.
Defence counsel Alex Bligh said Foot’s involvement was driven by an intention to stop the violence.
Judge Phillips said that may have been the case at the end of the incident but not at the outset.
‘‘You were fully involved at the coalface of this attack,’’ he said.
The judge said the victim was lucky his injuries were only ‘‘moderate’’.
The Australian man was left with bruising to his chest and upper body, grazes to his elbows and knees and a sore neck.
Foot, who had no previous convictions, wrote a letter to the court saying it was never his intention to become involved in a brawl that day.
Judge Phillips rejected his claims.
‘‘You say you tried to keep out of it, which isn’t the factual basis of the charge or the reality of the situation at all,’’ he said.
Foot told Probation in his pre sentence interview he made bad decisions when drunk and would never have acted so violently if he was sober.
He was sentenced to six months’ home detention and 150 hours’ community work.
Last month, Meikle was sentenced to eight months’ home detention, 200 hours’ community work and ordered to pay the Australian man $350.
A third defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charge against him and will appear in court in July.