Man jailed for abuse of partner

A man who repeatedly tried to strangle his partner has been jailed for his abuse.

On Friday, Melodee Michael Lambert was sent to prison for five-and-a-half years in relation to 12 charges, all of which related to domestic violence.

Lambert was previously found guilty of 11 charges, including kidnapping, assault with intent to injure and four counts of male assaults female, following a trial in the New Plymouth District Court last year. He pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching a protection order.

The police summary of facts said the 41-year-old and his victim had been in an on-again, offagain relationship for 16 years.

On September 14, 2017, Lambert was at the victim’s New Plymouth home when an argument started. An ‘‘extremely angry’’ Lambert forced the victim to sit in a corner of her bedroom for three hours without moving, ‘‘while he ranted and raved at her telling her how pathetic she was’’.

During this period of confinement, Lambert would apply pressure to the woman’s knee. At one point the victim heard a ‘‘click’’ and the resulting injury left her with a limp and in need of specialist treatment.

Two days later, another argument began between the pair before Lambert pushed the victim over.

While on the ground, he grabbed the woman’s throat with both hands and squeezed with such force that she couldn’t breathe. After easing off the pressure to allow the woman to take a few breaths, Lambert reapplied force to the point where she nearly blacked out.

On October 13, 2017, Lambert was at the victim’s house despite bail conditions banning him from the property. She asked him to leave, but he refused to go, which left the victim upset.

Another assault ensued when Lambert pushed the woman onto a bed and straddled her before forcing his thumbs into her mouth and to the back of her throat, blocking her airway.

As he choked her, Lambert told the woman to shut up. At one point during the attack, he let one of his hands go from her mouth and picked up a pillow, which he used to attempt to smother the victim.

The assault stopped when the woman’s child entered the room.

At Lambert’s sentencing hearing, prosecutor Jacob Bourke referred to the victim’s ‘‘hostility’’ when she gave evidence at the trial but the statement she gave to police at the time of the offending outlined how she had been subjected to physical and psychological abuse by the defendant.

The court heard the woman had been the target of Lambert’s violence before. In 2015, he was convicted for attempting to strangle her, punching her in the face and smothering her mouth with a towel.

Defence lawyer Julian Hannam opposed Bourke’s submission for a minimum period of imprisonment to be imposed on Lambert. The prosecution sought for the defendant to serve twothirds of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Hannam said Lambert was not someone without prospects and had a history of employment and financially supporting his family.

He said Lambert had grown up in poverty and had endured other challenges in his life, which were acknowledged by Judge Chris Sygrove.

‘‘You went off the rails,’’ the judge told Lambert, before adding that the victim had suffered the brunt of the defendant’s anger and frustration.

Despite this, the victim told the court she had been ‘‘forgiving’’ of Lambert – ‘‘despite the violence you meted out to her,’’ Sygrove said.

While the judge declined to impose a minimum period of imprisonment on Lambert, a mandatory strike warning was issued.