R v Te Pairi
[2024] NZHC 357
•28 February 2024
THIS JUDGMENT HAS BEEN ANONYMISED
NOTE: INTERIM ORDER SUPPRESSING PUBLICATION OF NAME, ADDRESS, OCCUPATION OR IDENTIFYING PARTICULARS OF CO-ACCUSED/CO-DEFENDANT PROHIBITED BY S 201 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 2011. SEE
NOTE: PUBLICATION OF NAME, ADDRESS, OCCUPATION OR IDENTIFYING PARTICULARS OF ANY COMPLAINANT PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS WHO IS A NAMED WITNESS PROHIBITED BY
S 204 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 2011. SEE
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND CHRISTCHURCH REGISTRY
I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA ŌTAUTAHI ROHE
CRI-2021-009-8305
[2024] NZHC 357
THE KING v
THOMAS JAMES TUTERANGI TE PAIRI
Hearing: 28 February 2024 Appearances:
P J Brand for Crown
J A A North for Defendant
Judgment:
28 February 2024
SENTENCING NOTES OF DUNNINGHAM J
[1] Mr Te Pairi, you are here for sentence today on four charges of assault on a child and one charge of assault with a weapon. On 18 October 2023, I gave you a
R v TE PAIRI [2024] NZHC 357 [28 February 2024]
sentencing indication on these charges.1 I am not going to repeat how I arrived at the starting point on the charges, so these sentencing notes should be read in conjunction with that sentencing indication.
[2] I will, however, repeat a summary of the facts of the offending to place the sentence I am going to impose in context. Again, I am going to refer to the name of the victim, but obviously his name is suppressed, as is the identity of his brother. I also note for the benefit of those present that the two co-defendants still have interim name suppression.
[3] You are the partner of G, one of the co-defendants. The victim is the biological son of G’s daughter, K who is the other co-defendant. He was four years old at the time. In July 2021, K moved with M, and one of her other children, D, a two year old, to her mother’s one bedroom flat where you and G were living.
[4] On 7 October 2021, you and K went to a whānau hui arranged by Oranga Tamariki with M and D in your car, an Oranga Tamariki social worker saw the children and immediately called an ambulance. M was reportedly emaciated to the point where he was unable to walk and was so traumatised that he was unable to express any emotion or talk. He had many bruises, lacerations and scratches all over his face and his body, as well as fractures of his sternum, ribs and spine. Your two co-defendants face charges in relation to ill-treating and neglecting M, and G faces charges in relation to causing him grievous bodily harm, but they are of course, defending those charges.
[5] You were also charged with assaulting M. You were said to have been agitated by him touching his penis. You spanked him on the buttocks with force causing bruising on three occasions. You forcefully grabbed M by his arms on a fourth occasion in order to put him in the corner for touching his penis and this caused bruising on his arms. On another occasion you held a lighter to the top of M’s right foot, causing a concentric ring-shaped burn with a diameter of 2 cm.
1 R v Te Pairi [2023] NZHC 2922.
[6] When I gave the sentencing indication, I treated the assault with a weapon charge as the most serious. I then uplifted it for the other charges of assault on a child. I adopted a starting point of 12 months for the assault with a weapon charge, saying it was a deliberate and gratuitous assault against a very vulnerable child who, in practical terms, was in your care because you were an adult in the house he was living in. I uplifted that starting point by eight months for the four other assaults on four different occasions. That led to a starting point of 20 months’ imprisonment.
[7] I noted that while you had a lengthy criminal history and had a conviction for common assault (family violence) in 2009 and for common assault in 2000, you did not have any convictions for violence against children and I did not uplift the starting point. I also note your guilty plea came very late, only approximately seven weeks before the trial date that was then scheduled. I said I would give you what I described as a generous discount of 15 per cent for your guilty plea.
[8] The main question today is whether, with the further information now available to me, there are other discounts available. Since giving the sentencing indication I have received a pre-sentence report prepared by the Department of Corrections and a Hōkai Tapuwae report which is described as a Kaupapa Māori Kōrero, with a Māori provider. It is an alternative to a s 27 cultural report, but I treat it as providing the same kind of information for sentencing. In it the report writer has provided detailed information about your whakapapa, your upbringing, your connection to Te Ao Māori and your current circumstances, including your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. It shed a great deal of light on how you came to be the person who is before me in Court today.
[9] You are the eldest of a large blended family of 14 siblings. Your mother is Pākehā and your father is Māori. You whakapapa on your father’s side to Ngāti Porou and Tuhoe.
[10] While I accept that the report was based entirely on your self-reporting, I have no reason to question what you told the report writer and it certainly explains the path your life has taken as an adult. You were the subject of significant physical abuse from your father as a toddler and young child. You also report being sexually abused by
relatives and other adults who came to the house. You say that you took to arming yourself, particularly with knives, and locking yourself in the bedroom to stop this happening. You report your mother trying to leave your father, but he would always track her down.
[11] At around five years old, you went to live with your maternal grandparents which you enjoyed, though you did not enjoy primary school. You then say at around six years of age you were placed in psychiatric care at Burwood Hospital to treat your ADHD. You again report repeated physical and sexual abuse. At seven years old, you were placed in residential care and again, you say older children sexually and physically abused you, including burning you with cigarettes.
[12] At nine years old, you were released from that home to your aunt and uncle. You enjoyed your time with them, saying they spoilt you and treated you like their own son. However, when you were 12 years old, you decided to run away and look for your father in Gisborne. You did this by hitchhiking and stealing cars. You eventually reached your father’s place and you lived with your father and uncle for almost a year without attending school.
[13] At 14 years old, you left that home and went to live in Auckland, where you said you learnt what to do to survive and you associated with older homeless people on the streets. At 15 years old, you were in a relationship and you returned to Christchurch. You and your girlfriend moved into a small flat together and you held down a job as a car groomer. However, you then started associating with gangs and you joined what you described as the Highways. I assume that is Highway 61, a motorcycle gang. Sadly though, your girlfriend had mental health issues and within a year of returning to Christchurch, she took her own life. You then started using methamphetamine and heroin. This led to your first prison sentence where you said you left the Highways and joined Hells Angels.
[14] Her loss is not the only loss you have suffered in your life. You have had twins and a son who all passed away at birth. You are currently in a relationship with G, one of the co-defendants.
[15] In terms of your physical wellbeing, you currently suffer from seizures and memory lapses, though it is not clear what causes that. You also suffer from drug addictions, although the report says you are on a methadone treatment plan with the aim of becoming drug free.
[16] I now turn to the pre-sentence report. It outlines your living situation at the time of the offending. You and your two co-defendants were living in a one bedroom flat with two children. It is understandable that you described the situation as “chaos”. As you explain, the children were not well socialised and did not have basic skills like toileting. You used the only knowledge you had to deal with their behaviour which was assaulting the four year old victim.
[17] However, there is a concern that you continue to blame others for the circumstances which have arisen, including blaming the four year old for his behaviour and you do not acknowledge your own behaviour as being a problem. The report writer says with your current attitude towards the offending and without suitable treatment, you would likely react in a similar way if provoked again.
[18] A further concern expressed in that report was that even when you have been offered community support such as mental health support, you would often fail to turn up and you would offer excuses like being too tired for not attending. The writer was concerned that your life choices reflected a lack of motivation, interest or care on your part to engage with the community and address your physical and mental wellbeing. The report explains that you currently have no suitable accommodation which is why a prison sentence is deemed more appropriate than home detention or a community-based sentence.
[19] If you are sentenced to imprisonment, it is recommended that your release conditions include a pathway that supports you to address your offending related needs by way of a Stopping Violence programme and an alcohol and drug programme. It is also recommended that a non-association order be put in place to mitigate your risk of reoffending as well as to protect the victim.
[20] These reports paint a clear picture of a chaotic and disorganised upbringing where violence and abuse were normalised. It follows that when you were again placed in a stressful living situation with a developmentally challenged child and a lack of skills to deal with the child’s behavioural issues, you resorted to physical violence. That is not to excuse what you did, but your background certainly explains why you had no other strategies available to you. I would allow a further 15 per cent discount on sentence for the adverse factors in your upbringing and its contribution to the offending. Combined with the discounts for the guilty plea, that leads to a sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment.
[21] No other circumstances are identified in the reports that would warrant a further discount on the sentence.
[22] I appreciate that you have served a reasonable portion of this sentence since you pleaded guilty to the charges. As there is no suitable home detention address, nor is there likely to be one available for the balance of your sentence, and given I think you need the close supervision of prison to ensure you remain drug free for the rest of your sentence, I will impose a sentence of imprisonment without leave to apply for home detention.
[23] It is important that you continue to be supervised and supported once you are released into the community and as your lawyer says, the special release conditions identified in the pre-sentence report should be imposed. I agree that these conditions are clearly required to help you address your offending risks on your release. I would also encourage you to explore the many good suggestions for helping you navigate your way back to oranga and wellbeing which are contained in the Hōkai Tapawae report.
[24]Mr Te Pairi would you please stand.
[25] On the charge of assault with a weapon, I sentence you to 14 months’ imprisonment.
[26] On each charge of assault on a child, I sentence you to two months’ imprisonment, all to be served concurrently with the sentence for the charge of assault with a weapon.
[27]I also impose the following conditions to apply on your release from prison:
(a)To attend and complete an appropriate stopping violence programme to the satisfaction of a Probation Officer. The specific details of the appropriate programme shall be determined by a Probation Officer.
(b)To attend and complete an appropriate Alcohol and Drug programme to the satisfaction of a Probation Officer. The specific details of the appropriate programme shall be determined by a Probation Officer.
(c)Not to communicate in any way or associate with the victim of your offending, without the prior written approval of a Probation Officer.
[28]You may stand down.
Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, Christchurch
Copy to:
L M Drummond, Barrister, Christchurch
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