Preventive detention for a life of violence
A 20-year-old was described in court as intelligent, able, talented and loved – and a terrifying prospect.
William Alexander Hamish Grant has begun an open-ended preventive detention term effectively for four incidents of extreme violence.
Grant enjoys inflicting violence and the shock value of telling people about it, the sentencing session was told.
He was already serving a four-and-a-half year term for a prolonged violent attack on his former girlfriend, during which he admitted he was sexual aroused.
Then he bit part of the ears of two other prisoners and stabbed another with an improvised blade.
Jurisdiction was declined in the Christchurch District Court and Grant was sent to the High Court which has the power to impose preventive detention.
That was sentence handed down by Justice Rachel Dunningham in the High Court at Christchurch where Grant was for sentence for two charges of disfiguring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Justice Dunningham imposed a six-year non-parole term as part of the sentence, but his release will depend on his progress in treatment and a favourable decision from the Parole Board.
She said the relatively short non-parole term would allow him some hope of release back into the community while still a relatively young man if he took part in the required treatment. He has a history of not participating or completing treatment programmes.
Grant’s mother and father were in court, and the family continues to support him. The judge told Grant: “You have a real chance to be released to the community while you are still young if you take the opportunity to make the changes that your family believes you are capable of.”
Without the treatment, Grant is seen as posing an “extreme risk”.
Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said Grant was “a terrifying prospect to be dealing with”.
Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger described him as an intelligent, able young man who was talented and loved, but who had committed “very adult offences in the prison environment”. He had been in prison since he was 16-and-a-half. His family had written heart-wrenching letters supporting him.
Justice Dunningham reviewed Grant’s history.
He had an unremarkable upbringing, though his parents separated when he was about seven.
He was bullied by an older boy when he was about nine and had to change schools.
When he started high school he turned into a bully himself. He was good at sports, and a vocalist in a band, but became involved in drugs and petty crime. He had to leave one school and was expelled from a second after 10 days.
That was followed by substance abuse, an addiction to violence, displays of anti-social behaviour and racist behaviour.
He bludgeoned a calf to death with an implement. He said he enjoyed the violence and only stopped when the animal was dead. He reported other instances of violence towards animals.
He also admitted sexual arousal as he enjoyed beating and stomping his ex-girlfriend. The violence continued even after she lost consciousness.
He bit parts of the ears off two inmates in separate incidents in prison at Milton and Rolleston last year. The parts could not be surgically reattached and the victims remain disfigured. He stabbed another prisoner several times in the back with an improvised blade.
Reports by health assessors ahead of the sentencing indicated a lack of remorse and empathy and a continuing risk of offending without treatment.
Justice Dunningham said: “You say you have grown out of your fascination with violence, but your behaviour within the prison system casts serious doubts on that statement.”
Category: Focus
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