Man jailed for 51 months as past connected to offending

and Feilding. Offences included unlawfully taking motor vehicles, theft, receiving stolen property, using documents to gain pecuniary advantage, possessing a knife in a public place, possessing an offensive weapon (a wooden baton), careless driving, burglary, failing to stop for police flashing lights and possessing cannabis. Before the Manawatū incidents, Kawana was under investigation for the family violence issues, with the police's summary of facts saying he and the victim had been “in a turbulent on-and-off relationship from early 2020 until September 2021’’. “During that time, there had been 10 reported family harm occurrences between the pair,” the summary said. One Timaru incident was in a vehicle and involved an elbow to the head and hand over the victim’s mouth and neck. When spoken to by police, the victim was crying. However, they both told police they were okay and that they had just been arguing. In another Timaru incident, the victim was grabbed by the throat and pushed against a wall, followed by another incident after she fled to another room. When police arrived, Kawana pleaded with the victim not to tell them what had happened. “Injuries suffered by the victim included a tooth being knocked out, soreness and slight swelling to her neck and jaw area, sore hands from being smashed against a wall at some point.’’ Judge Dominic Dravitzki said reports showed background factors connected to the offending. The judge said there was a loss of Kawana's relationship with his mother at an early age. His mother was imprisoned when he was “very young”. “You were then cared for by your father and that, sadly, was blighted by his use of alcohol and violence towards you.’’ The judge said Kawana was, at times, “presented to hospital with injuries’’. He had a “low-level education involvement and was expelled at a young age coupled with the early use of drugs, alcohol and cannabis, and periods in youth justice custody”. Judge Dravitzki said these matters had all manifested in Kawana as he developed his own family violence and other offending. “The methamphetamine use is a more recent development and you have a massive addiction to it ... I am well satisfied it is all closely connected to your offending, the exposure to violence and token mechanisms as a very young child that were inflicted on you ... That is not to excuse it, but to put in context, your behaviour.” The judge allowed a 10% sentence reduction for each of the reports, with a final sentence of 51 months jail. An emotional harm payment of $1000 was also ordered and the remittance of about $8000 in fines. A violent upbringing and a “massive addiction’’ to methamphetamine were highlighted as key factors behind offending across New Zealand that ended with a 51-month jail term being imposed on a man in the Timaru District Court on Thursday. Cairnsley Anaru Witinitara Kawana's offending was split into two timelines with four charges, two each of strangulation and family violence assaults, in Ranfurly and Timaru in April and August 2021 respectively. The 27-year-old then fled to Manawatū and eluded police until his arrest on the other charges in July 2022. In the North Island, Kawana's offending resulted in 23 further charges from December 2021. It was centred on Palmerston North, but also included Ashhurst