Threats lead to jail term

A threat by a Timaru man to put his ex-partner ‘‘in a hole’’ and ‘‘wipe out’’ her family has landed him with a six-month prison sentence.

Ethan Batt, 19, of Marchwiel, was found guilty of threatening to kill, at the end of a judge-alone trial in the Timaru District Court yesterday. He was found not guilty of the more serious charge of male assaults female.

In her evidence, the 17-year-old complainant, Batt’s former partner, alleged that during an argument he had punched her at least five times in the head. The complainant said the punches weren’t delivered ‘‘as hard as he could hit’’ and they did ‘‘not leave any marks’’ on her head.

She said she put her hands over her head to ensure Batt was not able to hit her face, and her hand swelled up as a result of being hit. She said Batt also threatened her.

‘‘He threatened to kill me and wipe my family out ... he told me I deserved to be in a hole, he threatened to wipe us all out.’’

The complainant admitted she did her ‘‘fair share of messaging I shouldn’t of’’.

‘‘I was retaliating, I was in a bad place. I probably did say some things that shouldn’t have been said,’’ she said.

Defence counsel Jay Lovely told the complainant that in her statement she had said Batt had hit her once, and had then held her down and punched her five more times. That was different from what the complainant told the court yesterday, he said.

The complainant said when she made her statement she ‘‘hadn’t slept’’ and remember happened’’.

In a video of Batt’s police interview, played to the court, the defendant admitted telling the complainant ‘‘I was going to waste her’’.

‘‘I pushed her away from me, I might have pushed her in the face, I might have pushed her in the head, but I never actually punched her.’’

If he had in fact punched the victim five times in the head ‘‘there would at least be a bruise’’, he said.

The only evidence of the assault was the allegation by the complainant, limited photographic evidence showing her swollen hand, countered by the defendant’s denials, said Judge Maze.

As she could not be sure beyond a reasonable doubt the assault took place, Judge Maze had to dismiss the charge.

She said she was satisfied the alleged statement of putting the complainant ‘‘in a hole’’ came from the defendant, and was a reference to her being ‘‘dead and buried’’.

Judge Maze was also satisfied the threat to ‘‘wipe [her] family out’’ was made in respect to the complainant and her family, so Batt was found guilty of threatening to kill.

Batt had a ‘‘number of previous convictions’’ for which he had ’’already served multiple prison terms’’, the last of which was a twoyear sentence, Judge Maze said.

The degree of taunting between the complainant and Batt was a ‘‘significant mitigating factor’’ and he was sentenced to six months in prison. told police exactly ‘‘I won’t what

Punched family member

A man who punched a member of his family multiple times and drove into his car door twice changed his pleas on the day he was due to stand trial.

Jason Lewis Kilkelly-Hudson had been charged with assault with a blunt instrument and threatening to kill. At the start of a judge-alone trial yesterday, the charges were amended to common assault and dangerous driving, respectively.

Kilkelly-Hudson pleaded guilty to the amended charges, having previously pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

According to the police summary of facts, last December, Kilkelly-Hudson went to the house of the victim, pushed him onto his bed, grabbed him by the collar and punched him multiple times with a closed fist. He then dragged the victim outside and punched him twice more.

The victim suffered a cut lip and swelling to the face.

The summary said KilkellyHudson also drove past the victim’s workplace. He followed him driving away from the premises, and when the victim stopped his car, twice drove into the stationary vehicle, causing moderate panel damage.

On January 13 the defendant sent a Facebook message to a witness, asking them to ‘‘do me a favour’’ and drop the assault charges.

Defence counsel Jay Lovely said given the family connection between victim and defendant, the case should be referred to restorative justice.

Kilkelly-Hudson was convicted on all charges and remanded for sentence on August 24.