‘Massive fall from grace’: Attack by machete man’s first offence
A 27-year-old man has endured a “massive fall from grace” after being convicted for a crime that saw him plunge a machete through a door and graze the victim on the other side.
It was the first criminal conviction for Jahna Hopkins and may impact his ability to visit his children in Australia, the Invercargill District Court was told this week.
Judge Michael Crosbie said Hopkins knocked on the door of his 32-year-old male victim in Invercargill, who was home with his mother, on February 9.
After the victim opened the door, Hopkins gave him a menacing look and barged into the hallway with his dog, then pulled a 35cm machete from his pants.
He motioned the machete towards the victim and taunted him before the victim escaped through the living room door and shut it behind him.
Hopkins knocked on the property’s door and again taunted him before twice stabbing the machete through the door, which the victim was holding shut.
“On the second stab through the door, the machete hit the victim’s left hand, grazing the knuckle,” the judge said.
The victim was terrified and thought Hopkins was there to kill him, he added.
Hopkins’ offending was uncharacteristic and a massive fall from grace, the judge said. “You don’t have any criminal footprint. You have no convictions in this court, or, I am told, any other court.”
The probation report revealed Hopkins had suffered trauma earlier in his life.
“It seems you may have held a grudge against the person who you went and saw,” the judge said.
Defence lawyer Tanya McCallum said Hopkins had been in custody for 72 days ahead of his sentencing.
The pre-sentence report gave “some rationale” as to what led to his offending, but she declined to reveal the details in open court. His convictions may impact his ability to visit his children in Australia, she said.
Judge Crosbie sentenced Hopkins to six months’ home detention.