Man who scared partner with screwdiver sentenced

Richard Taura stabbed his expartner’s television with a screwdriver before advancing on her, brandishing the weapon as she held their baby.

Taura’s former partner, who he had recently split with after a twoand-a-half-year relationship, arrived home about 3.30pm on March 9, 2021 to find her gate had been rammed inward, the summary of facts details.

She then discovered the windscreen and rear window of a car left in the driveway smashed. A door to a shed had also been forced open.

About 20 minutes later, Taura arrived at her home and walked up to her, asking where all his stuff was.

Taura then grabbed a screwdriver and began yelling at the woman while she held their 7-month-old baby and her older child was in the room.

He admitted he had smashed the windows of her car before stabbing the TV with the screwdriver. Taura then advanced on the woman while still wielding the weapon.

“The defendant’s aggressive behaviour made the complainant scared for her safety and [the] safety of her children.”

As he walked out of the house, the 49-year-old picked up a broom and seriously damaged the windscreen of another car before leaving.

A year earlier, on March 9, 2020, Taura took a ute from outside an address in Raetihi after approaching the driver while holding a shovel in an aggressive manner. The ute was located abandoned and out of fuel.

Taura told police he had borrowed it to get his own car, which was stuck.

On Wednesday, he appeared in the Whanganui District Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to three charges of wilful damage and one each of threatening grievous bodily harm, assault with a weapon and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

Defence lawyer Stephanie Burlace, appearing for Debbie Goodlet, said Taura had spent a long time on electronically monitored bail without issues and sought a community based sentence.

Judge Ian Carter sentenced Taura to six months’ community detention with a 7pm to 7am curfew and ordered him to pay $1500 in reparation.