Mother’s five-minute struggle with burglar
A Christchurch mother struggled with a burglar for five terrifying minutes before neighbours arrived after hearing her screams.
“She thought she was going to be killed,” said Christchurch District Court Judge Alistair Garland as he described the struggle, before jailing the burglar for two years nine months.
Wiremu Toia Cassidy has seven convictions for burglary, but at this Addington property the 30-year-old met his match.
Judge Garland was sceptical of Cassidy’s claim that he was very drunk on bourbon at the time, because at 9pm on October 21 he made a difficult entry through a bathroom window he found ajar.
He was helping himself to a digital camera and a laptop when the woman householder arrived home, still wearing her cycle helmet when she confronted him in the lounge.
She told him to get out and ran outside. She thought Cassidy would run away too, but instead he ran outside, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and dragged her back against the wall of the house.
She did manage to get out a couple of piercing screams, and the two then struggled for five minutes. The woman’s glasses were smashed and she was injured by the chin strap of her helmet.
Cassidy tried to keep her mouth covered to stop her screaming, but then ran off when the neighbours arrived in response to the screams she had managed to make.
Cassidy was appearing for sentencing after pleading guilty to burglary and aggravated assault – committed while trying to get away after a crime.
Defence counsel Clayton Williams said Cassidy was remorseful and had considered taking part in a restorative justice meeting with the victim. However, he had not gone ahead with it because he felt so bad when he saw the photographs of her.
Cassidy had two children who were crying and asking where he was. “That is something he is having to live with. He knows it is his fault he is not there.”
Judge Garland said the woman was “fiercely independent” but had found the experience psychologically challenging. She was fearful each time she came into her house until she checked each room and was satisfied it was not under threat. She had not been able to return to her usual work, and was considering taking counselling.
Her children were worried about open windows and unlocked doors.
The emotion harm caused to the woman and her family had been immense, said the judge.
He jailed Cassidy and ordered him to pay $851 reparations for damage to the woman’s glasses and helmet, and medical expenses.
Category: Focus
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