Jail term for assault and armed standoff
Simon Beatty’s childhood wasn’t one of nurturing, safety and guidance. The adults he relied on instead exposed him to serious crime and drugs.
Fast forward three decades and he’s serving time for a 10-hour armed standoff with police and the vicious assault of a woman.
Beatty, now 32, ‘‘had no chance’’, Judge Emma Smith said in New Plymouth District Court yesterday, referencing a cultural background report.
The assessment of Beatty provided ‘‘extraordinary insight’’ into his life and addictions, she said, describing a ‘‘withering set of circumstances’’.
‘‘As a child no older than seven you were exposed to, by very close family members, high levels of criminality of which you were a participant.’’
‘‘A family that was steeped and embedded in not only crime but the heavy use of drugs, in particularly methamphetamine, to which you were exposed.’’
Beatty had been robbed of all the basics a child deserved and his path somewhat fated, she said.
‘‘You, at an early age, repeated what you had been taught.’’
He now had an ingrained methamphetamine addiction, she said.
But when Beatty stood in the dock for sentencing yesterday, he looked a healthier version of himself than at previous hearings.
He has been in custody since his arrest on February 3 when he holed himself up in a New Plymouth house, for hours resisting police attempts to talk him out.
During the stand-off, Beatty made threats to shoot two Armed Offender Squad officers in the head and it took the deployment of CS gas to finally get him out of the house.
The police summary of facts said the armed siege was sparked by an event the previous day, when Beatty turned up at his partner’s home brandishing a cut-down .22 rifle.
One week previously he assaulted the woman, leaving her with a black eye and swelling to her face that made it difficult for her to chew for days.
Defence lawyer Turitea Bolstad presented to the court a letter of apology from Beatty and a certificate he earned while in custody for a motivational programme.
Bolstad said resources were limited to remand prisoners so the fact he was able to engage in a course was a reflection of his desire to deal with his addiction.
She asked that these were considered along with the ‘‘wealth of information’’ provided in the cultural report when Judge Smith determined Beatty’s sentence.
Judge Smith accepted Beatty was genuinely remorseful for his offending and that there was a nexus between his childhood and his offending.
On charges of assaulting with intent to injure, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful presentation of a firearm and threatening to cause grievous bodily harm, she adopted a sentence of 43 months’ jail.
But following further reductions made, Beatty was handed down an end sentence of 34 months’ prison.