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Offender Databases Hohepa Ryland

Hohepa Joseph Ryland

Alias

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Offences

Assault on his girlfriend, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, injuring with intent to do grievous bodily harm in Oaonui in March 2008
Also drink driving convictions

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1983

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in May 2008

Background
Taranaki Daily News story, 15 May 2008
HOHEPA JOSEPH RYLAND does not consider himself a violent person. Judge Allan Roberts said other people might disagree with him, especially when details of the brutal attack he unleashed on his girlfriend of just three months were heard. The 25-year-old unemployed Wellington man was jailed for six years and nine months in the New Plymouth District Court yesterday for a series of drunken, violent assaults on Hazel Butters while they visited Taranaki earlier this year.

Ryland admitted a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assaulting a female. The worst of the two attacks happened in March at the Te Potaka Marae, near Opunake, when Ryland knocked Miss Butters out during a heavy drinking session. Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich said Ryland's motivation for the attack was that he believed his girlfriend was making him look stupid. Two months after the assaults, Miss Butters still cannot open her mouth properly and has diminished hearing in one ear.

Mr Marinovich asked Judge Roberts to impose a minimum non-parole period for the "cowardly, unprovoked attack" that happened while Ryland was on parole. Defence counsel Kylie Pascoe said her client made no excuses for the attacks, which he did not remember because of his level of intoxication. Judge Roberts considered the attack at the marae "beyond comprehension to any right thinking man". "You do not consider yourself a violent person, others might argue with you," he said. The Crown's plea for a minimum non-parole period to be added to the sentence was declined.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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