Vincent to fight match fixing ban
Former Black Cap Lou Vincent says a conviction on wilful damage charges would limit his ability to appeal the severity of his match fixing sentence in the UK.
Vincent, 39, was granted a discharge without conviction after an incident in November where he struck, with his hand, the bonnet of his ex-wife’s car at Pukekohe.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of wilful damage in December and appeared yesterday in the Hamilton District Court applying for a Section 107 discharge without conviction. Through his counsel Rob Quin, Vincent said the offending was at a lower level and a conviction outweighed the gravity of the offence.
His volunteer work with the New Zealand Cricket Players Association would suffer and his ability to travel abroad with his new US partner would be affected.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Murray Macdonald opposed the application for discharge without conviction, saying the grounds for such a discharge were not met. The alleged consequences of the offending did not outweigh the gravity of the offending.
On the day the offending took place, Vincent went to the Pukekohe home of his ex-wife.
During a tense conversation, he struck the bonnet of her car with the bottom part of his hand – damaging it.
He then took a barbecue and returned to his Raglan home.
The following day, Raglan police visited Vincent to retrieve the barbecue and he received a pre-charge warning for theft of the barbecue and a charge of wilful damage to the car.
Community magistrate Kathryn Wilson, in her summation, said a discharge without conviction can be granted when the direct consequences of the conviction will be ‘‘all out of proportion’’ to the gravity of the offence.
The direct consequences were a conviction, a maximum penalty of three months in prison, or a fine of up to $2000 for the wilful damage charge.
‘‘In this case, I consider the offending at the lower band in terms of gravity,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘In this case, the consequences of the conviction would be out of proportion to the offending.’’