Expectant mother was attacked

A Taranaki man’s brutal treatment of the mother of his child has seen him sent to prison.

The 29-year-old harangued, abused and sexually assaulted his victim, a woman he had been in a relationship with since May 2016.

While he does not have name suppression, revealing his identity could breach the automatic name suppression given by the court to victims of sex crimes.

On Wednesday, the man appeared in the New Plymouth District Court for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to charges of sexual violation via unlawful sexual connection, male assaults female, wilful damage and threatening behaviour.

Eight charges were withdrawn at the hearing.

Judge Chris Sygrove said the defendant had been involved in 37 previous family violence incidents prior to the recent offending.

On December 8, 2016, the man went to the home of the victim, where she lived with two boarders.

The defendant threatened the boarders and told them to ‘‘get out of my house’’, the judge said.

The victim asked him to leave but he kept shouting. He then punched a hole through a wooden panel of the front door and gained entry to the house.

He chased the two boarders around the house, throwing a bar stool at one of them. It missed and struck the oven, smashing its door.

‘‘The boarders ran from the house with you chasing them,’’ Judge Sygrove said.

The summary of facts outlined how about three weeks later, on December 31, the victim, who at that stage was 21 weeks pregnant, got home after attending a family reunion.

The defendant was waiting for her and got angry because she had not made him any dinner.

The couple then argued for several hours before he left the house. He returned later in the day, and found the woman in her bedroom.

He pinned her face down on the bed, took off her underwear and sexually assaulted her. After the attack he would not let her out of the room for two hours, keeping her restrained on the bed.

The next morning, he argued again with the victim, snapped her cellphone in half and held her hostage in the bedroom for several hours.

The victim was incontinent for two days following the brutal sex attack and also suffered bruising to her face and arms.

In her statement to the court, Judge Sygrove said the victim hoped her former partner would get the help he needed as she wanted to re-build a relationship with him for the sake of their child.

The judge said the woman had been surprised by the defendant’s behaviour, given ‘‘his so-called love for her’’.

‘‘She says you have been a very controlling person.’’

Lawyer Turitea Bolstad said her client was willing to attend a restorative justice meeting with the victim in the future and wanted to get help behind bars to address his issues.

The man was jailed for six years.