Synthetic cannabis seen as factor in bashing
Synthetic cannabis was seen as contributing to an episode of “mindless behaviour” that led to three people being bashed – two of them with a hammer – in a drive-through queue at a food outlet early one morning.
Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar said synthetic cannabis was seen as being a significant part of Daniel Lee Wootton’s life up to the time of the multiple assaults.
He had previously been involved with alcohol and cannabis. He has already tried a rehabilitation programme without success and had been hoping for an immediate place at Odyssey House, but that will have to wait while he serves the one-year ten-month jail term imposed today.
Wootton, 30, had entered late guilty pleas to two charges of assault with a weapon and one charge of assault with intent to injure.
He told police afterwards that he became angry at having to wait in the queue at a drive-through at a food outlet on the Main North Road at 1am on August 24.
He approached someone who was walking through the drive-through. Wootton swore at him and then got a hammer from his car. Wootton head-butted the first victim, and when someone tried to intervene he head-butted him in the face and struck him with the hammer on the back of the head.
When a third person intervened – worried about the safety of man who had been hit with the hammer – he was also struck on the back of the head with the hammer.
Defence counsel Craig Fletcher said Wootton had now tried to distance himself from his gang associations, and that had led to a home invasion and the family had to move addresses.
Wootton had little recollection of the incident because he had been dealt some rough justice on the spot. He had been kicked and possibly knocked unconscious.
He was found when he sought medical attention at Christchurch Hospital. The bashing victims were there at the same time and identified him for the police.
Judge Kellar said it had been “mindless behaviour” with a weapon that was capable of causing extremely serious injuries.
Wootton had eight previous convictions for assault including injuring with intent to do grievous bodily harm in March 2005, for which he had been imprisoned. He had a community work sentence for a more recent assault. Probation assessed him as a moderate risk of further offending and causing harm to others.
The judge added to his sentence for his history of violence, and ruled out home detention because of the strong need for deterrence.
He noted that rehabilitation programmes – including the medium intensity rehabilitation programme in prison, the Stopping Violence programme, and the Salvation Army’s Bridge Programme – had already been tried without success. They had not prevented further offending.
He made a special order for six months after Wootton’s release for him to attend drug and alcohol treatment as directed, including a residential programme.
Category: News
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