Little remorse after ‘serious offending’

A MAN who went on a theft spree and threw rocks at his pregnant partner’s stomach has shown little remorse for his offending, a court has heard.

Marcus Longley (30) appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week on seven dishonesty charges and one charge of assault in a family relationship.

‘‘This is pretty serious offending across the board,’’ Judge Dominic Flatley said.

‘‘You show little remorse towards your partner and nil for the dishonesty offending.’’

On November 29, 2021 Longley and his 18weekspregnant partner were at their home in Takapuna when she attempted to leave on foot.

Longley threw three ‘‘golfball sized’’ rocks at her, two of which hit her in the stomach.

Following the woman, Longley delivered at least 10 punches, causing her to drop to the ground.

As a result of the attack, the woman felt dizzy and received a large graze down her right leg.

‘‘You appear to minimise your actions,’’ Judge Flatley said.

A raft of dishonesty charges were brought against the man in the following months, with Longley using a Facebook buyandsell page to con people out of large sums of money.

A Munro caravan was listed and several interested buyers contacted the man to secure the purchase.

Instructing his victims to deposit money into his bank account, Longley ceased contact with the prospective buyers once the cash had been received.

One instance led a family with five children to drive four hours from New Plymouth to Taupo.

They set off for the trip at 3am after depositing $1000, only to be left in the lurch by Longley.

On another occasion, the defendant received an $8000 deposit for the caravan, going on to ignore all forms of contact from his victim.

In explanation for this offending, Longley told police he had been ‘‘taking the fall for a mate’’ and ‘‘knew nothing’’.

A shoplifting spree followed, with the man stealing more than $700 worth of goods from various stores around Dunedin.

Longley had been in custody since December 24 and his lawyer argued for a sentence of intensive supervision rather than jail time.

Judge Flatley sentenced the man to 24 months’ imprisonment and said the suggestion of intensive supervision was ‘‘entirely inappropriate’’ for such serious offending.

Longley was also ordered to pay reparation of $3742.