Domestic violence accused says prison is place for him

A WAIKOUAITI man who punched his partner and hit his 1yearold child says prison is the best place for him.

Tanae Marcus Edge (25) had been behind bars since the November incident and accepted he needed to address his anger issues before being freed, the Dunedin District Court heard this week.

“He wants to be a better father and partner,” counsel Sophia Thorburn said.

Edge had been on home detention for similar domestic violence against his partner for a couple of months when his rage consumed him again.

On November 30 last year, the couple argued and the victim went to pack a bag.

Edge grabbed the woman, while she carried their son, and gripped them in a bearhug.

The victim screamed that he was making their son cry and made a dash for the table to call police.

However, Edge wrestled the phone away from her and followed when his partner sought refuge in a nearby bedroom.

After blocking their exit, the defendant pushed mother and child on to the bed and punched the women three times in the upper arm.

One of those blows struck the baby’s leg, the court heard.

As he had with the phone, Edge yanked his son away from the victim and said “he wanted the child, to help himself calm down”.

Later, when the woman attempted to leave, the defendant aimed further punches at her arms, including the one holding the boy.

After a spell shut in a bedroom, the victim made a break for the car outside and she locked herself inside.

When Edge was unable to get in, he punched the windows and bonnet in frustration, a police summary said.

He stood in the middle of the driveway to stop his partner leaving but she eventually made her getaway, calling police once she was at a safe distance.

Ms Thorburn said Edge planned to undertake angermanagement and drug counselling while in prison.

Judge Josephine Bouchier described a letter from the defendant as “insightful”.

“And that is not something I say very often.”

Edge wrote that he now realised family was not a possession that he owned.

Judge Bouchier jailed him for two years on charges of assault in a family relationship, assaulting a child and breaching a protection order. She declined an Otago Daily

Times application to photograph the defendant.