Associates of an ‘out of control’ man have been praised by judge

A judge has commended people who refused to leave the house of an enraged man who told them he was going to knock out his female partner.

On Thursday, Bruce Wayne Couchman was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court on charges including assaulting a person in a family relationship, possessing an offensive weapon, and threatening to do grievous bodily harm.

Judge Duncan Harvey said Couchman arrived home from work on January 11 and an argument broke out about laundry.

Couchman punched the door in the hallway, and the woman retreated into a room. He yelled and screamed at her before picking up their baby in his left arm and pushing her into a wall.

He also picked up a sharp knife from the kitchen and swung it towards the woman while holding the baby in his other arm, the judge said.

She stepped back, and Couchman stabbed the knife into the kitchen bench multiple times, bending the blade.

Associates of Couchman’s arrived at the house, and he snapped his fingers, demanding to know what they wanted, before saying: “Hurry up – what do you want? – so I can go and knock her the f... out.”

To the eternal credit of his associates, they refused to leave the house, the judge said.

Couchman thrust the baby into the woman’s arms and forcibly shoved her into the hallway. When she went into the kitchen to find her phone, he demanded the keys to his vehicle and spat at her.

The judge later said Couchman had been “totally out of control”.

The incident was stressful to children in the house, the court was told.

Couchman had previous convictions, in 2019 and 2020, against the same woman, the judge said. The couple were no longer together. He was taking steps to address his temper, according to a letter from a registered counsellor, the judge said.

Couchman was sentenced to six months’ community detention and 120 hours of community work. The judge also ordered him to make a $500 emotional harm payment to his victim.