Attacker’s helpers are sentenced

The pair made the victim sit at a table and thwarted his attempt to escape out of a window.

Two accomplices connected to a brutal bashing of a man in his home have been sentenced by a district court judge.

Alistair John Fox and Philip Free Knuckey were charged in the wake of the March 13, 2016 attack on the New Plymouth man.

The main offender, Raymond John Lewis Govenor, was jailed for four years and eight months in February after he pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, injures with intent to injure and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

For their roles, Fox previously pleaded guilty to burglary and Knuckey pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The summary of facts in the case said that at about 8am on March 13, 2016, Govenor and Fox arrived at the victim’s Awanui St home.

When the victim opened the front door, he was confronted by Govenor, who punched him in the face.

The pair made the victim sit at a table in the living room and then thwarted his attempt to escape out a nearby window.

Govenor then assaulted the victim by delivering a blow to his face and using a dart to repeatedly punch the man’s shoulder, causing minor puncture marks.

Before leaving, Govenor and Fox loaded the victims’s car and other personal property, including tools and an air compressor, on the back of a trailer.

After his arrest and while he was on custodial remand, Govenor, with assistance from Knuckey, then tried to put pressure on the victim to retract his police statement.

At yesterday’s hearing in the New Plymouth District Court, Knuckey appeared via audiovisual link from Whanganui prison, where he is a sentenced prisoner.

In August last year, Knuckey was jailed for four years and nine months on 12 charges.

These included two charges of threatening to kill, male assaults female, assault using a pistol as a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and breach of a protection order.

These are unrelated to the March 2016 assault.

Lawyer Julian Hannam said there had been no pre-sentence report prepared for Knuckey as prison was the likely outcome given the seriousness of a conspiracy charge.

He said any extra jail time would push out Knuckey’s parole date.

Judge Chris Sygrove jailed Knuckey for five months.

In a separate hearing, Fox was sentenced to three months’ community detention, where he will have to abide by a 6pm to 6am curfew at a Ha¯ wera address.

He will also have to complete 100 hours of community work, the court ruled.