Monday, December 10, 2012
THE high risk of domestic violence in the Christmas-New Year period was one reason a judge refused to give a community-based sentence to a man whose convictions for such offending are now in double figures.
Lukis William Ryland, 29, was sentenced to six months jail after pleading guilty in Gisborne District Court to a charge of assaulting a female and one of disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence. The disorderly behaviour charge was reduced from a charge of possessing an offensive weapon.
Jailing him, Judge Lawrence Hinton cited the 63 times police had been called to domestic violence matters involving Ryland, including at least 10 breaches of protection orders and 12 assaults.
Counsel DeAnne Nicoloso sought a sentence of home or community detention for Ryland. Previous prison sentences aimed at curbing such offending by Ryland had not worked, Ms Nicoloso said.
Ryland wanted to remain in the community to spend time over the holiday season with his children, who he had not seen for a while. But police said an electronically-monitored sentence was inappropriate for Ryland, especially at this time of the year when the risk of domestic violence was high.
Ryland was well known to police and came before the court on a regular basis, prosecutor Claire Stewart said.
Judge Hinton told the court that during the latest offending, a family member had intervened to stop the struggle between Ryland and his partner, which occurred on a front lawn.
Ryland struck his partner once in the head with a fist, causing a small cut and a large bump.
At the time of the assault, Ryland was the subject of supervision and a community work sentence, handed down to him in September for another domestic assault, assault on police, disorderly behaviour and a breach of bail.
A report on Ryland said he had a long history with community probation and had served many community sentences, usually with poor outcomes. He had 12 previous convictions for breaching community-based sentences.
Ryland had a significant history of violence towards his parents, partner and other family members, the judge said.
Ms Nicoloso said that while not wanting to minimise the offending, it was less serious than first alleged.
It was Ryland himself who had phoned the police.