‘Appalling’: Guildford was convicted of assault on woman
The former All Black sentenced for punching a woman in the face – described by the judge as ‘‘an appalling act’’ – can now be named as Zac Guildford.
The 32-year-old failed in his attempts to have his name permanently suppressed, with Justice Paul Davison, QC, saying the public should know who was behind the assault.
The inevitable embarrassment and sense of shame for Guildford ‘‘are no more than would be the usual consequences of publicity to other persons convicted of similar offending whose offending is reported in the media,’’ Justice
Davison wrote after hearing the appeal in the High Court at Hamilton.
Now that the suppression has lapsed, more details of the case can be reported.
The assault occurred about 11.30pm on December 20, 2019, in the Napier suburb of Taradale. The victim was sitting in the front passenger seat of a car, with Guildford in the rear. Without warning, he punched her in the face.
The court heard neither the victim nor the man could remember what sparked the assault.
The victim, who now lives overseas, still has issues with breathing through her nose.
When he appealed to the High Court, Guildford also tried to have his sentence – two years of intensive supervision – overturned but Justice Davison said that was lenient given his offending.
Guildford said yesterday that he was ready to come clean.
‘‘I was still hiding behind a lot of guilt and shame, but also still chasing the rugby dream,’’ he said in a phone interview. ‘‘Now in the job that I do love, I encourage other men to take their mask off, so evidently I’m taking mine off too.’’
Guildford did not mention he was facing a conviction when he talked to Stuff in December about his new role as a community support worker, working with people in domestic violence.
When Guildford was sentenced the following month, lawyer Rob Quin sought a conviction and discharge and permanent name suppression, saying the former All Black had found it difficult to handle the fame he achieved as a young man.
Guildford was a member of the All Blacks squad that won the 2011 World Cup, but his career nosedived afterwards because of issues with alcohol and mental health.
In 2011, he was cited after a drunken assault in Rarotonga.
At the sentencing hearing in January, Judge Robert Spear noted that Guildford had achieved a degree of infamy for that and other incidents that were for ‘‘drunken activity of some nature’’.
‘‘You are in desperate need to take counselling for the alcohol abuse,’’ he told Guildford. ‘‘There is no alternative but for this court to help you deal with the problems that you are not capable of dealing with yourself.’’
Guildford said yesterday that he had personally apologised to his victim and had participated in a reconciliation meeting through the Ministry of Justice’s restorative justice programme.
Guildford’s current employer, mental health and addiction service provider Yellow Brick Road, knew about his conviction before taking him on.
‘‘Yellow Brick Road was aware of it but was confident in him going forward,’’ chief executive Vicki Lee said.