OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 579, 28 March 1995, Page 10

OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT

The following cases were heard by Judge Gregory Ross in the Ohakune District Court last Thursday. Police sergeant Luke Crawford of Taumarunui appeared for the prosecution. "Short fuses" George Lee Hemara 25, unemployed and Thomas Ian Hemara, 20, unemployed, both of Ohakune, appeared for a defended hearing on a charge of wilful damage after earlier pleading not guilty to intentionally breaking glassware in the Ohakune/Karioi club rooms on 7 August last year. Peter Brosnahan of Wanganui acted as their defence counsel. The first prosecution witness, Ohakune/Karioi Rugby and Sports Club president, Rex Oliver, said both defendants were among the 30-40 people who attended an after-match function. Later when most of the supporters had left he saw both defendants deliberately tipping over "about four tables" and breaking "about a dozen glasses". Mr Oliver said that the committee had suspended both defendants (who had been members of the senior reserve team) for 12 months. Thomas Hemara told the Court that after his girlfriend Ann-Marie Smith had been struck in

Jail term D wayne Henare, 23 , unemployed of Ohakune, was convicted and sentenced to four months imprisonment when he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on a charge of receiving goods to the value of $2960. Court heard from defence counsel Garry Johnson, that Henare had been seen removing clothing, appliances and other items from a house in Ohakune. These were the results of a burglary by associates with which he was not directly involved. He was confronted by a neighbour and agreed to return the items to the house without reacting violently to being challenged in this way. This was an important factor to be taken into consideration when considering sentence, said Mr Johnson, as his client had over the past two years made a serious attempt to control the violence which had comprised most of his past criminal record. "On this occasion he did not react violently as he would have done two years ago," said Mr Johnson who explained that the defendant was "strapped for cash" having had his dole cut. However Judge Ross said that this was not

the face by another person who was present, he had jumped in front of her to protect her but was himself hit. During the ensuring fight he had "knocked against" the tables but had not deliberately tipped them over. He said several other people were fighting. Ann-Marie Smith said that after being hit in the face the previous witness had come over from another group with whom he had been drinking and a struggle started between Thomas Hemara and the person who had struck her. However she saw no punches being thrown nor any other fights or tables being knocked over during the struggle which lasted only a minute before she dragged Thomas away. The third defence witness was the other defendant George Lee Hemara who said he saw his brother Thomas and another person "fighting, swinging around bumping into" the tables so he had helped move the tables out of the way. The resulting glass breakage was, he said, accidental. In his summing up Judge Ross said that he preferred to accept the testimony of the president of the club who was obviously a "mature, Turn to Page 11

OHAKUNE DISTRICT COURT

solid and reliable citizen". He said he found AnnMarie's evidence fell a long way short of the widespread fighting claimed by both defendants. In finding that the tables had been "manually, deliberately and purposefully" tipped over he rejected the evidence of the two defendants who obviously had "hair-trigger tempers and shortfuses". "You have a perception, perhaps not misplaced, that the whole community wants to pick a fight with you". The charge of wilful damage was established though at the lower-end of the scale. Both defendants were convicted and discharged with Judge Ross saying that they had already been punished by the 12-month suspension from the club and any

further punishment would amount to double-jeop-ardy. "Delicate flower" George Lee Hemara, 25, unemployed of Ohakune, also appeared to defend a charge of common-assault against a member of the bar staff of the Ohakune Hotel on 8 August last year. Hemara was again defended by Peter Brosnahan. The first witness was former barman, now barmanager, Maxwell Charles Hodder, who told the Court that when he saw a number of patrons drinking outside the hotel on Clyde Street he had asked them to return indoors with their glasses. In the foyer of the hotel he had been confronted and pushed into a corner by the defendant George Hemara who he knew had been banned from the

hotel. The witness said that, almost a year later, he could not remember exactly what had occurred during the confrontation nor how he came to sustain bruising. Under cross examination witness agreed that "the incident had been of no great significance" and that he had forgotten about it. Police-constable Graham Rumble told the Court that he had interviewed and video-taped Hemara' s testimony at the Ohakune police-station following the incident. At this stage the Court was cleared after defence counsel objected to the public screening of the video. When Court resumed defence counsel' s claim that there was no case to answer was rejected by Judge Ross who ruled that, on the evidence before him, there was sufficient reason to continue with the case.

Hemara then took the witness stand. He said that he had been outside the hotel but had not been drinking nor had he been with the group who had been drinking on the footpath. The complainant, he said, "had looked as if he was trying to walk through me as if I wasn't there and I didn't like the cheeky and abusive" language the complainant was using. He admitted to "reaching in and slapping" the complainant. In finding the charge of assault established against the defendant Judge Ross said: "what a delicate flower you are" for reacting in such a way to what the defendant had claimed was "cheeky and abusive" language being used by a member of the bar staff. Hemara was convicted and fined $150, court costs $95. More court next week.