Korotangi Te Hokinga Mai Douglas Paki was sentenced to 100 hours community work for assaulting the mother of his daughter.

A son of the Māori King punched his girlfriend several times in the head leaving her with a black eye in what a judge called a clear case of domestic violence.

Details of Korotangi Te Hokinga Mai Douglas Paki's alcohol-fuelled assault on the woman as the couple's eight month old slept next to her were revealed during his sentencing in Hamilton District Court on Thursday.

Paki, the second eldest of King Tuheitia's children, was sentenced to 100 hours community work and 18 months of intensive supervision after earlier pleading guilty to one charge of assault with intent to injure in relation to the assault on December 14, 2018.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF Paki attends court in Hamilton for an earlier appearance.

Paki and his then partner, who have a daughter together, were at an associate's Hamilton home and Paki had been drinking.

The woman began to feel ill and decided to go to bed early, taking her then eight-month-old baby with her, the court heard.

Paki, then 23, came to bed some time later and made advances. The woman moved away from Paki who then became aggressive and punched her several times in the head, although the exact number of times was disputed.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF It's not the first time Paki has been before the courts.

The woman turned to protect the child. Others were alerted and came into the room where the altercation was broken up.

"This is a drunken, violent assault on a sleeping woman with a child sleeping next to her that she has had to protect while the assault was taking place," Judge Thomas Ingram said in sentencing.

"That is not a minor matter. Woman are entitled to protection of the law.

"I sit here day in, day out listening to appalling domestic violence in New Zealand. Domestic violence is a scourge on New Zealand."

Paki's lawyer Marie Dyhrberg QC said Paki was genuinely remorseful for what had happened. He had participated in the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project, was working on his relationship with his former partner and was now seeing his daughter.

"This is someone who has come to recognise how he's ended up in this situation and is dealing with his anger and alcohol."

Dyhrberg also applied for a discharge without conviction for Paki on the basis that conviction would impact on his ability to travel. He would be forced to apply for a character waiver to travel which could be lengthy, she said.

"He does travel with his father conducting the King's business - this is travel for a very important aspect of his current life, and what will be his future life aswell."

But Judge Thomas Ingram dismissed the application saying he was not satisfied Paki had met the requirements and a discharge would be out of all proportion to the seriousness of the offending.

"Domestic violence of this kind is of sufficient seriousness that it would be a very exceptional case indeed, and this is not one, for a court to consider travel consequences and possible ascertainable future employment prospects would justify."

When it came to the gravity of the assault, Crown Prosecutor Bernadette Vaili said Paki had demonstrated little remorse, given he denied the extent of the assault. This was a vulnerable woman whose trust was breached.

"This was an attack on an intimate partner who was at the time asleep and had been awoken by the defendant," Vaili said.

His actions left the woman with bruising to her eye, seen by a doctor a week later, and feeling embarrassed.

"The victim was vulnerable ... and the assault continued even after the victim had turned to protect her child."

This was not Paki's first time before the courts.

He was convicted of drink driving in December 2014 after he was stopped by police on a Gisborne street and blew 761 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

Paki was originally discharged without conviction on that charge - as well as two counts of burglary and one of theft - however Crown prosecutors successfully appealed the original decision not to convict him on the drink-drive charge.

However the ruling by Justice Mark Woolford upheld the previous decision not to convict him on the burglary and theft charges.

Although Paki had participated in HAIP, he had also undertaken previous rehabilitation to deal with alcohol, yet ended up before the courts again, Vaili said.

The fact alcohol was involved was not a mitigating factor, Judge Ingram said. This was a first instance of domestic violence but Paki had been in court repeatedly.

He began with a starting point of 200 hours community work then gave 50 per cent credit for Paki's rehabilitative efforts and guilty plea - leaving a sentence of 100 hours community work.

Paki was also ordered to undergo 18 months of intensive supervision.

"You carry some weight on your shoulders that other people don't. Life is not as easy for you as people might think."



