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Offender Databases Justin August

Justin Cody Tai August

Alias

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Offences

Grevious bodily harm on a Hamilton man with intent to do so in October 2009

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1988

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 years 4 months with a 6 year minimum non-parole period in 2010
Successfully appealed first strike warning but sentence upheld in March 2011

Background
From Waikato Times story 29th March 2011
Hamilton man Walter John Hemara will remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life bed-bound, unable to talk or move. But the man who put him there believes serving almost 10 years in prison for his crimes is too long. Justin Cody Tai August, 23, appealed the length of the prison sentence handed down saying it was "manifestly excessive". He was sentenced to nine years and four months imprisonment for his vicious attack on Mr Hemara on October 1, 2009 and was ordered to serve a minimum non-parole period of six years.

The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal, saying the sentence was appropriate given that the violence inflicted on Mr Hemara was "extreme". August pushed Mr Hemara on to a couch and started punching him when he fell to the floor, August repeatedly kicked him in the body and head. The attacks to the head continued as Mr Hemara lay unconscious. Others at Mr Hemara's Willoughby St flat put him into bed when August left but the next morning he was found still unconscious and in a critical condition. He was taken to Waikato Hospital suffering facial and skull fractures, brain swelling and bleeding in his brain.

A neighbour who found him in that state told the Times Mr Hemara was a good man. He had three children, but lived alone in his flat. "He's got a good heart and is the kind of fella who would take people in off the street. He is just one of those guys," he said at the time. August later told police he kicked Mr Hemara at least 10 times in the head and stomped on his head about 15 times in an assault that lasted between 10 and 15 minutes. August's sentencing judge, Robert Spear, said the intensity and brutality of the attack "defied belief". He said the only difference between this case and murder was a "formal pronouncement of death".

It was for that reason that August's sentence length was so long. Yesterday, three Court of Appeal judges agreed rejecting August's appeal against his sentence length. However, a second part of the appeal was upheld. A first warning under the Government's three strikes law given to August was deleted as he crime preceded the implementation of that new law.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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