April 30, 2010

Armed home invasion seven years after break-up

By David Clarkson

The victims of Mark Dawson?s knife-point home invasion remain in fear of him, even as he begins a three year four month jail term.

Their fear centres on his parting words when he was arrested: ?This isn?t over. I?ll be back.?

He made his attack in a Hoon Hay home at night, seven years after he had permanently separated from his partner and family.

They had been together for 20 years, in a relationship that was punctuated by periods of separation and reconciliation.

But in early January, the unemployed 46-year-old?from Waltham?pondered the year ahead and what it held, and concluded it was ?not all that much? in terms of his family, his defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger told the court at his sentencing today.

He has written to the victims about being ?swept away on a wave and within an hour being arrested?, according to crown prosecutor Kathy Basire.

She told the court it showed he was downplaying his decision-making and responsibility about the incident.

His ex-partner describes his behaviour as narcissistic.

Dawson?s story emerged in some detail at the Christchurch District Court sentencing on charges of burglary while armed with a knife, assault with a weapon, and threatening to do grievous bodily harm.

He has been in custody since his arrest on January 6, and he pleaded guilty to the charges only a week later.

In 2002, he separated from his family. The court was told that was the year he started taking drugs, and the same year he was convicted of assault with intent to injure over some business incident.

Miss Bulger said there had recently been a lessening of contact with his children and that had weighed heavily with him. He had struggled to cope.

He went to the house where his ex-partner lived, while he was armed with a knife, and climbed through the window where she was watching television with her male companion.

The woman ran to protect the children from Dawson who was brandishing the knife.

Dawson yelled that if she called the police he would kill the man and placed him in a headlock and held the knife to his throat.

Dawson also tried to stab him in the face with a broken wine glass, and did gouge him in the eyes with his fingers.

Dawson then left the bedroom in search of the woman and when the police arrived they heard him yelling: ?You can watch while I do him.?

Dawson was advancing with a knife raised above his head.

The man was left with scratches and bruises but Judge Michael Crosbie said the emotional scarring was more important for all the people at the house that night.

The victims were given the apology letters that Dawson wrote in prison, but the judge said it was understandable that they regarded them as ?too little, too late?.

Two adults and three children were at the house on the night of the invasion, although Dawson said he believed the children were not at home when he broke in.

The incident had a considerable effect on the victims. The woman had needed counselling and was fearful of Dawson getting bail. The man had resigned from his job, with feelings of exhaustion and helplessness arising from the attack. He remained afraid. One of the children needed counselling.

?Had the police not intervened when they did, serious injury or death to the male victim might have ensued ? your own words would appear to confirm that you were so enraged and so taken by the moment.

?Your inability to deal with your issues properly has had a crushing effect on all these people,? said the judge.

It was inexplicable why Dawson had chosen to carry out the attack seven years after the end of the relationship.

?In the end, I have to accept that there is some remorse, though it is difficult to assess,? said the judge, giving Dawson a reduction for his early guilty pleas and jailing him for three years four months.

One adult victim was in court for the sentencing; the other had family members present.

Police originally claimed that Dawson said after the incident that he wanted the police to shoot him so that he could ?go out in a blaze of glory?, but he denied making the comment and the police have now dropped the line from their account of the incident.