Paper deliverer whacked teenager

Normally used to kill blowflies, a newspaper instead became a weapon in an attack on a teenager.

On the evening of December 19, Woodville labourer Gerald Douglas Belshaw was delivering newspapers in the Tararua town.

A police summary read to Dannevirke District Court yesterday said Belshaw saw a 13-year-old boy walking with a group of friends.

He yelled at the boy, accusing him of breaking into his car several weeks earlier.

The boy denied the accusation and walked off.

‘‘[But Belshaw] walked up to the victim and grabbed him by the hair at the back of his head . . . before pushing him away and causing the victim to stumble,’’ the summary said.

The boy again walked off, but continued to talk about Belshaw, who overheard what was being said about him.

So he again approached the boy and hit him once with a newspaper, then slapped him.

Representing himself, Belshaw offered his apologies.

‘‘I feel pretty stupid to be standing here, to be honest. Yeah, nah, I overreacted.’’

Judge Geoff Rea said with Belshaw’s history of convictions, his actions came as no surprise.

He was sentenced to 80 hours’ community work.