[ad_1]
BENN BATHGATE / Things
Benjamin Friis, Sean Palmer, Steven Hammon-Henry and Darcy Rhind pictured in Rotorua District Court where they were convicted of an attack on a drug dealer described as “willful, gratuitous, sustained and retaliatory violence.”
Four men have been jailed for an attack that left a Rotorua drug dealer needing to have his skull pierced to release blood.
The dealer had sold sugar instead of methamphetamine as part of a cannabis deal.
Darcy Rhind, 30, Sean Palmer, 25, Benjamin Friis, 23 and Steven Hammon-Henry were convicted in Rotorua District Court on Friday after they each pleaded guilty to one count of wounding with intent to cause serious bodily injury.
Friis was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, Palmer five years and two months, Rhind five years and two months and Hammon-Henry five years and six months. Friis and Palmer also made payments of $ 2000 for emotional damages to the victim.
READ MORE:
* British man jailed for ‘babysitting’, one of the largest drug seizures in New Zealand
* Methamphetamine trafficking mother escapes jail time
The “pre-planned attack” unfolded while New Zealand was at lockdown alert level 4, and a week after the merchant and Palmer agreed to trade a half ounce of cannabis for a quarter gram of methamphetamine.
Crown prosecutor Charles Harvey said the attack was “willful, wanton, sustained and retaliatory violence. . . [the victim was] punches, kicks and knees repeatedly, often to the head ”.
The police summary of the events revealed that “instead of giving … methamphetamine in exchange as agreed, the complainant gave him Palmer sugar.”
A week later, Friis contacted the dealer to ask for a quarter gram of methamphetamine and was told to come to his address at the Rose Court Motel.
Around midnight, Friis arrived at the motel. He was accompanied by Palmer, Rhind, Hammon-Henry and a fifth man who cannot be identified for legal reasons.
“Defendants Hammon-Henry, Rhind, Palmer and Friis got out of the Toyota and surrounded the complainant’s unit in a pre-planned manner and demanded that the complainant report to the door.”
Fearing for his safety, the man fled, only to be chased back to the motel, trapped and “thrown to the ground.”
Things
The men involved in the assault were sentenced in Rotorua District Court on Friday.
“Defendants Hammon-Henry, Rhind, Palmer and Friis began repeatedly hitting and kicking the plaintiff in the head, face and upper body,” the summary reads.
A woman appeared on the scene from another unit and tried to stop the attack, but withdrew when her son emerged. Hammon-Henry and Palmer also walked to their unit “and made aggressive gestures and gang movements.”
The summary describes how the assault continued with punches, kicks and stomping.
Hammon-Henry, who refuted some of the facts, struck the complainant at least seven times, kicked him twice in the face and “took a photograph of the complainant’s face while he was lying on the ground.”
In total, the assault, captured by the motel’s CCTV cameras, lasted approximately two minutes and 10 seconds.
The author was taken first to Rotorua Hospital and then to Waikato Hospital, with injuries that included bruising, swelling of the face, multiple facial fractures, and “an acute subdural hemorrhage on the right side of the brain that required a subsequent trephine evacuation in Waikato Hospital “.
When they were arrested, the defendants refused to comment, although “it was pointed out [their] clothes and shoes were stained with blood ”.
