Court hears of man’s ‘explosive rage’
A man struggling with stress after people he knew were killed in the CTV building collapse reacted with explosive rage months later when things went wrong at the airport.
He tipped over an automatic teller machine, assaulted two people including stomping one person’s head, refused to speak to anyone at court after his arrest, and threw a chair through a glass partition at the Christchurch Police Station.
Troy Rudigar Hutchinson, 36, was found guilty of four charges at the end of his Christchurch District Court jury trial. He appeared before Judge Jane Farish today for sentence on the charges of intentional damage, injuring with intent to injure, and two charges of assault with a weapon.
On November 28, 2011, Hutchinson went to the airport to pick up his wife. He asked the help desk where his wife was, but the man couldn’t help him. He saw an ATM machine which he knocked over and damaged. He lifted the desk where the man was, then when a member of the public came to the man’s aid he placed his palm in the man’s face and when he fell to the floor stomped on his head.
She said both Hutchinson and his wife lost a lot of people close to them in the CTV collapse, and were both struggling with stress.
When Hutchinson was arrested he was taken to Rangiora District Court, where he would not talk to anyone, but was eventually bailed and driven back to the Christchurch Central Police Station.
While there he had not calmed down and as a protest picked up a chair and threw it at the glass with two police officers behind it and it broke.
He was remanded in custody, as there was a concern about the risk to himself, and other people.
Defence counse Craig Ruane said Hutchinson threw the chair at glass in the police station but expected it to be bullet proof and only wanted to alarm the two policemen behind it.
Judge Farish said Hutchinson reacted with explosive rage to a minor incident which most people would deal with in a moderate way. His psychiatric report said he had difficulty interacting with authority, and his aggressive behaviour was entrenched.
She ordered a reparation payment of $2000 for the $12,000 damage he did to the ATM machine, and $874 for the glass in the police station.
She said the man who had his head stomped on did not suffer a lasting injury, and Hutchinson had apologised to him.
She sentenced Hutchinson to eight months’ home detention, and asked for judicial monitoring reports every three months. She said he was to attend psychologist counselling as recommended.
Category: News
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