Partner and cat suffer violence

Pushed to the ground and pinned to the floor by her partner, a woman screamed to a 10-year-old child for help, a court has heard.

Daniel Flores Bascara, 28, had grabbed his victim by her hair and shoved her into their dresser so hard all the objects on it fell off, a police summary of facts said.

The woman hit her hip as she fell down, then Bascara stood over her, pushed her on to her back and held her down by the upper arms. When she started screaming for help, he put his hand over her mouth.

When the child entered the room, Bascara moved off the victim, but when she tried to get up, he shoved her down again, four or five times.

He stopped and moved away because the child was very upset, the summary said.

The victim had to miss two days of work after the June 13 assault due to the pain and bruising on her hip.

Bascara pleaded guilty on Tuesday to five charges in Ha¯wera District Court arising from violence during the 13 years he and the victim were in a relationship.

In May, the victim went into the toilet to escape Bascara during an argument, but he hauled her out by her top and pushed her into a bedroom and on to her hands and knees.

There he held her down with his body weight and squeezed her round the throat so hard she vomited.

On another occasion, Bascara shoved the victim so she fell down some stairs and in a separate incident threw a smoothie in her face when she didn’t like it.

On February 6, 2010, Bascara became enraged after he found cat faeces in the garden.

He picked up the couple’s ginger and white cat, named Ted Bundy, and threw it against a brick wall so hard it broke the animal’s left hind leg, which was later amputated by a vet.

On Tuesday, Bascara pleaded guilty to five charges; two of male assaults female, one of assault with intent to injure, one of common assault and a fifth of cruelty/ ill treating an animal.

Lawyer Kelly Marriner asked the judge to make a referral for restorative justice and for a presentence report to consider community detention and home detention.

A temporary protection order was already in place.

Judge Stephen Harrop convicted Bascara on the charges and remanded him to December 12 for sentencing.