Lifer back doing prison time after knife threat
A murder-parolee is back in prison serving more of his life sentence after a domestic incident at Kaiapoi in which he threatened his former partner with a hunting knife.
Ross Alan Bonica was today jailed for six months for the assault with a weapon, after pleading guilty in the Christchurch District Court.
He will be considered for release in February when his case comes back before the New Zealand Parole Board which recalled him to prison in September, about a month after his arrest.
Bonica, 56, a Rangiora business owner, was jailed for life for stabbing a rival to death with scissors during a gang free-for-all at Makarori Beach near Gisborne in November 1985. He assaulted a tow truck driver at Kaiapoi in 2006 while on parole, and was given a community work sentence and recalled to prison, but was released almost immediately.
Judge David Saunders said today he believed that community support for Bonica would stand him in good stead when the Parole Board hears his case for release in February.
Bonica has effectively served all the jail time for the latest assault charge because of his remand in custody and Judge Saunders said he would impose no special release conditions – that would be up to the board.
The incident happened on August 3 when Bonica was outside the Kaiapoi home of his ex-girlfriend. They had been in a relationship for two years, but it had ended two months before. The woman had declined several attempts by Bonica to discuss the break-up.
When the woman arrived home with her son and new boyfriend, Bonica took out a hunting knife with a 200mm blade and walked up to the front door.
The woman placed herself between Bonica and the front door to prevent him from entering. The police say he held her hair and held the knife near her chin. She then convinced him to go across the road, away from the house, to talk. They walked across the road, with Bonica still holding her hair, and the knife.
The woman’s 18-year-old son came out and there was an altercation between him and Bonica, before the woman convinced him to put away the knife and leave and they would arrange to talk later. Bonica did that, and left.
He told police later that he had been drinking before going to the woman’s address and said his reaction to the realisation that she was with someone else was “a stupid and crazy thing to do”. He said he had not hurt anyone.
Judge Saunders noted that he had produced the knife but had done nothing more with it. He had read and heard something about the upheaval that occurred in Bonica’s relationship.
“Your biggest difficulty as a life parolee is that you are always going to walk in the shadow of the prison gates because any imprisonable offence can lead to recall to continue serving that life sentence.”
He noted that for a long time after his release, Bonica had prospered in the community but then had to cope with this grief over the death of his partner.
“This was again a relationship issue. You did not think things through, because the production of the knife added an element of public safety,” he said.
Reports that would be called for by the board ahead of his release hearing would explore what the triggers had been for the incident, and why Bonica had not thought more clearly about the consequences of his actions.
Category: News
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