March 07, 2010

Court hears of courage in the face of domestic bashing

By David Clarkson

Alfred Edward Tekira?s former partner asked him: ?Is this what love is??

His answer was another beating.

The May 3 bashing and strangling has brought the unemployed 29-year-old a jail term.

The sentencing in the Christchurch District Court also showed the courage of two people ? the woman he bashed and strangled unconscious, and the passer-by who came to her rescue.

It is the third time that Tekira has been convicted of attacking his partner.

They have been together for more than a decade and she is the mother of his eight children, aged two to 10 years.

Judge Jane Farish told him: ?For a lot of that period of time you have been offending, not only in relation to her, but in relation to the community as a whole.?

There are a lot of dishonesty convictions on Tekira?s record, and this sentencing involved not only the charge of intentionally injuring the woman, but also burglary, three charges of driving while disqualified, two drink-driving, breach of a protection order, and possession of an offensive weapon.

Tekira has a serious alcohol problem and the judge said the bashing had taken place in an uncontrollable alcohol-fuelled rage.

The string of offences began on August 30, 2008, when he was caught drink-driving and driving while disqualified. He had earlier convictions for both, which put it into a more serious category for sentencing.

He was with another person on October 12, 2008, when they burgled a liquor store to steal alcohol.

On November 29, 2008, he was again caught for drink-driving and driving while disqualified.

He was caught driving again just one day later. For much of the offending, he was already on bail.

By May last year, he and his partner had separated and she had a protection order issued against him.

Still, they were drinking together on May 3. They argued and she went back to her home where she was cooking in the kitchen. Tekira wanted to continue the row.

She told him to leave.

Tekira insisted on having his say, and would not leave.

It is likely the children were asleep and were not woken by the yelling.

Tekira picked up a pot off the stove containing hot stew and threw it against the wall.

He then picked up a serrated kitchen knife and held it against the woman?s throat, threatening her.

?She very bravely confronted you and said, ?What are you going to do now?? ? Judge Farish commented.

Tekira dropped the knife but smashed two panes of glass in a bathroom window, cutting his hand.

?That indicates to me that you were in an uncontrollable rage no doubt fuelled by the alcohol,? said the judge.

The woman approached Tekira in the bathroom, confronted him about the damage because she and the children had to live in the house.

Tekira returned to the kitchen and told her he loved her.

She replied: ?Is this what love is??

Tekira replied by smearing some of the blood from his hand over the kitchen wall.

He went back into the bathroom, grabbed her by the throat and forced her against the bathroom mirror.

He squeezed her throat hard until she lost consciousness and sank to the floor.

When she came to, she crawled to the front door.

Tekira followed, apologising to her but then punching and kicking her in the face, and stamping on her hands when she tried to protect herself.

He then broke another window and grabbed her by the throat and continued to choke her.

A member of the public yelled at him to stop but Tekira dragged the woman back into the bathroom still squeezing her by the throat. Two of their children witnessed that.

The member of the public bravely followed them inside the house and told Tekira in no uncertain terms to leave. He did.

The woman had swelling and pain to her throat, bloodshot eyes from the strangling, and bruising and swelling to her forehead the backs of her knees.

?That is the physical injuries. That doesn?t equate to the psychological damage you caused to her,? said Judge Farish.

It also did not include the children seeing their father seriously injuring their mother. ?Do you want your children to end up going to jail or physically abusing their loved one? You need to stop and take account of the way you are behaving.?

She urged Tekira to do any programmes available in prison to rehabilitate himself. ?Looking at the pre-sentence report, you are beginning to develop some sort of insight into your behaviour.?

The woman had read her victim impact statement in court, departing from the pre-prepared statement to explain that there had also been good times in her relationship with Tekira.

Six of the children now live with the woman and two live with her parents in the North Island.

Judge Farish told Tekira: ?You and your partner had had a reasonably stormy relationship. Judging from the manner in which she read her victim impact statement to the court, there are still strong feelings between you.?

Defence counsel Michael Starling told the court that Tekira had been in custody a long time since the offending. He had a lot of family support and wanted to reconcile with his children but accepted that was a long way ahead.

Crown prosecutor Catherine Butchard asked the judge to increase the sentence because of the two previous assaults on the same woman. She said the assault was made worse by the use of a weapon held against the woman?s throat, the strangling to unconsciousness, the attack to her head, and the presence of two of the children.

Judge Farish imposed a three-and-a-half year jail term and disqualified Tekira from driving indefinitely.

Reparation of $998 was listed for the liquor shop burglary but the crown accepted that it was unrealistic and no order was made.