‘I felt half my face, my jaw drop': Man left permanently disfigured after attack

A man who was slashed along his jaw, leaving a 10cm cut from his ear to his mouth, by a man yelling ‘Killer Beez’ now struggles to go outside because he feels people are staring at his scar.

Cecil Peterson was enjoying an evening with his relatives when he was attacked by Lymon Ormsby, a gang member looking for a fight.

Ormsby was last week sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty at trial in the Whangārei District Court of one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one charge of assault with intent to injure.

The jury heard during the December trial how Peterson was having drinks with his cousins at his home on Second Ave, Whangārei on the evening of May 6, 2002 after doing the lawns and putting dinner on.

Across the fence, Ormsby and his associates were also having drinks and decided to invite themselves over to their neighbour’s house.

After the two groups socialised for about 30 minutes, Ormsby talked about starting some fights, which Peterson said wasn’t going to happen on his property and ushered them out onto the street.

But instead of leaving Ormsby punched Peterson in the face before running away and returning with a sharp object in his hand.

Ormsby struck Peterson in the face, leaving a slice-like wound extending from under his right ear, along the jawline, up to the corner of his mouth.

Throughout the assault, multiple witnesses gave evidence Ormsby was yelling “Killer Beez”.

Crown prosecutor Danica Soich

When Peterson gave evidence at the trial, he described the feeling of the slash to his face.

“He [Ormsby] bounced back and I didn’t think anything about it, but then he came again and I felt half my face, my jaw drop,” Peterson said.

When Peterson was asked to explain what he meant by half his face drop, he said he put his hand to his face and “it was just gone”.

Crown prosecutor Danica Soich submitted a starting point of seven to eight years in recognition of the serious violent offending Ormsby inflicted on a stranger.

“This case involved extreme violence,” she said.

“The psychological impact has been ongoing and the victim has since had to move towns due to fear.

“He is permanently disfigured and while he has approached medical professionals to assist with the scar, he will have it for life”.

Ormsby’s lawyer, Mathew Ridgley said his client had a message for all those involved in the case.

“This morning when I gave the victim impact statement to him, his response was he bears no ill will towards the victim or any of the witnesses.

“Whilst there is nothing to forgive, he forgives them for coming to give evidence even though he knows it was something they had to do and he accepts that.

“It was important the victim and victims whānau understood that,” Ridgley told the court.

Judge Taryn Bayley said the evidence given by those who were there was overwhelming and Ormsby was “hyped up” that evening.

“You are remorseful and you now realise, you could have killed him and it is likely, after sitting in the jury trial and hearing evidence, that has brought home to you how serious this was,” Judge Bayley said.

“After two months off work, the victim was only able to perform light duties .

“Surgery meant he had to have further time off work amounting to more lost wages.

“They have had fears of sleeping, thinking someone will come back and he has difficulty going outside because he feels people are staring at his scar.

“It is an ongoing reminder of what occurred. You intended to use that knife to inflict harm,” Judge Bayley said.

Ormsby has reportedly cut ties with the Killa Beez, has had his tattoos removed and has been alcohol-free since 2022.

Despite his positive turnaround, Ormsby was sentenced to three-anda-half years imprisonment.

Anervous five-day wait ended with delight on Saturday for Kaitāia’s Zane Kaaka when the fish he caught on the first day of the Ninety Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza ended up being the heaviest of the competition — earning him a total of $32,500.

Kaaka caught his 8.225kg snapper on Tuesday — winning $2500 as the heaviest fish of that day — then spent the next five days trying to beat it, while also hoping nobody else did.

And at the end of Saturday’s weighin, nobody had managed to knock him from his perch so Kaaka also walked away with the $30,000 top prize for the heaviest fish caught.

Organiser John Stewart said it was an amazing competition this year, and probably the best yet.

“It went very well and was probably the biggest we have had so far. It was a great week,” Stewart said.

He said Kaaka had a nervous few days waiting to see if his first-day effort would be bettered.

“And it’s so good that the top prize was won by a young local guy.”

Stewart said another amazing aspect of this year’s competition was the size and number of fish which were donated to the auction at Kaitāia markets on Saturday to rise money for the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade. This year’s auction saw $17,450 raised for the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade, a record amount.

“That’s the biggest amount we’ve ever raised for the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade from the auction.

“This year, it was the size of the fish donated that was impressive, with the average weight of the donated fish 3.5kg.”

He said another Far North local, Anaru Murray, won the draw for a brand-new Mitsubishi Triton on Saturday.

“It’s nice that the two top prizes went to locals,” Stewart said.

Local knowledge also saw the second-heaviest snapper landed by Kaitāia’s Quinton Collings and the average weight for teams competition won by Marty Black’s Awanui team with an average weight of 19.835kg.

However, the teams competition was won by the Bounty Hunters, from

Wairoa, who won $5000 for their combined weight of 82.52kg.

Stewart said as well as raising funds for the Kaitāia Volunteer Fire Brigade, the Snapper Bonanza also pours several million dollars into the Far North community from the com