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escalating violence in our community
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.
Assault of a Greymouth man in November 1998
Also assaulted a policeman the same day
Also another assault in April 1999
Had 15 prior convictions for violent offending
More recent convictions for drink driving
.
.
none known
Born 1963
unknown
Served eight months prison followed by nine months supervision in December 1998
Served a two year nine month sentence in July 1999
Released August 2003
Background
From the Press ( Christchurch ) 01/12/1998
Conversation led to bashing. A conversation in a West Coast hotel led to a bashing, the court was told. Robert Alexander Gardner, 36, unemployed (counsel for the offender Hamish Kenworthy), pleaded guilty to charges of assault, failing to appear, and assaulting police. Sergeant Richard Williams told the court that Gardner had assaulted a man outside a Greymouth hotel after asking him to step outside. The victim had gone outside for a talk with Gardner , but Gardner had knocked the man out, the victim regaining consciousness on the ground. After the police arrived Gardner had also manhandled one of the officers. Judge Erber sentenced him to eight months jail, followed by nine months supervision.
From the Press ( Christchurch ) 30/07/1999
Memories of childhood sexual abuse sparked a vicious and sustained attack in which a man was left for dead, unconscious and bound and gagged lying in a pool of his own blood, the Christchurch District Court has been told. Robert Alexander Gardner, 36, who was yesterday sentenced to two years and nine months jail for the attack, said he had been sexually abused by the man in the early 1970s. On April 20 this year, he argued with the man after the man had allegedly made an "improper gesture" towards his niece. Judge Stephen Erber said Gardner punched and kicked the man before binding and gagging him, and threatening him with a knife. He then left the man lying face down in a pool of blood before stealing his car.
"When (the victim) was found he was still tied up and covered in blood," the judge said. "You thought you might have killed or seriously injured him. In reality the man suffered relatively minor injuries, although he now suffers from headaches and forgetfulness." The judge described Gardner 's life as "miserable" and noted that he had 15 previous convictions for violent offending. Defence counsel Richard Raymond said his client's "pitiful" early years were characterised by abuse, his dysfunctional family life, and a predilection for violence. He had spent his adult life in and out of jail. The "vicious and prolonged" assault was because Gardner did not have the skills to cope with what happened around him, counsel added. Judge Erber said that although he sympathised with Gardner about his background, a jail term was inevitable.