escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Trinty Duffy

Trinty Elijah Duffy

Alias

.

Offences

Home invasion and grevious bodily harm of a Christchurch man in February 2001

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

Viliami Tupou
Tianiela Poutini

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1984

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to six years in March 2002
Unsuccessfully appealed this sentence in July 2002

Background
From Christchurch Press story 27th March 2002
Three men have been jailed for up to nine years for subjecting an innocent man to an "extremely cowardly, vicious, and sustained series of assaults" in his own home. Villiama Aka Tupou, 22, Tianiela Salesi Poutini, 18, and Trinity Elijah Duffy, 18, armed themselves with hunks of timber with a plan to deal to the neighbour who had complained about the noise they were making. But when the neighbour refused to come out of his flat, they turned their attention to another neighbour who had had nothing to do with the earlier incident but had come out of his home to see what the fuss was about.

Christchurch District Court Judge Murray Abbott said the second neighbour was attacked on a porch outside his home by the youths and, after an unsuccessful bid to retreat behind his front door, inside his home as well. "He was unable to close and secure the door, which was then kicked down. The violence on the porch was nothing compared to what happened inside the flat," the judge said. "He was struck a number of times to the head and upper body, which resulted in him losing consciousness on the floor. "Attacking him was cowardly in the extreme because it involved a group of at least four young men taking on a single, innocent, defenceless person who had apparently done nothing at all to provoke what occurred.

"He suffered deep haemorrhaging to the brain, a fractured cheek bone, and a broken arm (among other injuries). He was admitted to hospital, where he stayed for 10 days, with his first night in the intensive care unit. "It is apparent that the effects of the brutal and vicious assault which he sustained on February 24 last year will be with him for the rest of his life. It's probably more the deep-seated emotional and psychological consequences that will trouble him."

Judge Abbott noted that Tupou had a series of previous convictions for violence, the most recent of which had resulted in an 18-month jail term. When this attack occurred, forestry worker Tupou was out on parole. By contrast, jobless Duffy and student Pousini had been barely 17 at the time and were effectively first offenders. He said the home invasion laws applied and called for longer sentences than if the attack had happened away from the victim's home. Tupou was sentenced to nine years jail, while the other two were each sentenced to six years.

---

Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

Back to Top