A judge has paused a sentencing to try to ensure that a family who was menaced by a road-rager were forewarned that he would be returning to their rural community as part of a home detention sentence.
Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish wanted to ensure that the family – victims of offending by property developer Andrew George McDaniel in March – did not learn about his release from Hillmorton Hospital by reading about it in the news.
“I don’t want them reading about it with everything highlighted in the news,” said the judge. “All of a sudden they’ll become hyper-vigilant.”
Police went to telephone the family while Judge Farish halted the sentencing session for 30 min. Prosecutor Sergeant Grant Neil returned and told the court the family could not be reached immediately and the sentencing then went ahead anyway.
McDaniel, 51, has been the subject of five psychiatric reports since his arrest on charges of injuring the father of a family with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and wilfully illtreating the family’s 10-month-old puppy by injuring it so badly that it had to be destroyed to end its suffering.
He had also admitted an earlier assault, and drink-driving.
The most serious charges arose from an incident on March 23, at the Eyre River crossing in Downs Road, near Rangiora.
The father – out walking with the family and the dog – signalled to McDaniel to slow down as he drove out of the river crossing in a four-wheel-drive.
McDaniel manoeuvred the car with a series of u-turns to try to knock the man down. The man tried to avoid the vehicle by jumping over a fence but was struck and the puppy was hit by the car as McDaniel drove away. The man received cuts and bruises, and injuries to his shoulder and ankle, and the puppy had to be euthanised because of the severity of its leg injuries.
Defence counsel Michael Starling said McDaniel’s condition had improved during this time in psychiatric care while on remand. He had now had insight, and was aware of his mental condition. He had recently agreed to a compulsory treatment order which meant he was still an inpatient.
The latest report to the judge said he no longer needed to be held as an inpatient and she decided he could be released under an electronically monitored home detention sentence.
She imposed an eight-month sentence at his home, which is about 10km from the family he menaced. She ordered a further six months of special conditions for him to undertake assessment, counselling and treatment as recommended, including anger management, and to attend a maintenance group.
She also disqualified him from driving for a year, which would give the family some confidence that they would not encounter him on the roads again.
The family had been strangers to him at the time of the attack.
“I am satisfied you don’t pose a risk to them, or their children,” Judge Farish said.
She noted his progress under treatment while in hospital for the last nine months, and said she was satisfied that there had been a link between his mental illness and the offending against the family.
She noted that the two children of the family were still having nightmares about what had happened. They had been traumatised by the events and were fearful and hyper-vigilant.
“The effect of me sentencing you to home detention is unlikely to relieve those feelings,” she told McDaniel. “Hopefully, they will understand as well why I am doing it.”
She was doing it to protect the progress that had been made with his treatment. The psychiatrists reported that his behaviour had “substantially normalised” and there had now been no adverse incidents for six months.
If she sent him to jail the protective factor of the compulsory treatment order would come to an end. “It is not in your best interests, or the interests of the community for that to happen.”
He was still subject to the treatment order although he was within the community and if there was any deterioration in his condition, the hospital could recall him quickly.
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