A 47-year-old Hastings man who punched a man after a Christmas party, causing him to lose sight in one eye, has been jailed for 18 months.
Erika Akuhata, had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge of injuring fellow Hastings man Peter Mitchell, 30, but a jury took barely an hour to find him guilty after a trial in Napier earlier this month.
Judge Geoff Rea said the offence happened on December 17 last year outside the Taradale Club where Akuhata had been attending a work Christmas party.
Akuhata had punched Mr Mitchell causing his head to strike the ground. He was later taken to hospital with serious injuries and lost the sight in one eye.
"By that one punch you have essentially ruined his life and that of his family," Judge Rea told Akuhata.
The victim would never be the person he was before the assault and would not be able to play the role in the community he might otherwise have done.
He said the victim report made "very sad reading".
Judge Rea said the accused had an appalling record of violence, committing eight offences in the past 10 years including assaults on a police officer, injuring a police dog and violence involving a weapon.
There was no doubt Akuhata had been badly affected by alcohol and his criminal record showed that violence was his first port of call at times of stress, said Judge Rea.
"This sort of street thuggery cannot be accepted."
NZN