A woman who set her dog on to a housemate had similarly offended in 2017 and could not expect anything less than a prison term, a judge said in Gisborne District Court yesterday.

Racheal Manuel, 32, was jailed for nine months at her sentencing by Judge Warren Cathcart.

Manuel pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon (a dog) and assault with a sharp weapon (a knife she presented at her housemate during the same incident).

Manuel, a transgender female, and her 31-year-old housemate, a male who identifies as a female, began arguing over an issue to do with the care of the housemate’s children at about 8.30am on June 21 of last year.

Oranga Tamariki had previously assigned Manuel as caregiver for the children when her housemate was in prison ahead of her sentence being commuted to home detention, which she was serving at the time.

The argument turned into a physical fight, during which Manuel called for her dog to attack, instructing it to “get her, kill her”.

The dog obeyed. Growling and barking, it ran at the victim and bit her on her index finger.

The housemate managed to rip her finger from the dog’s mouth but it then latched on to her calf muscle.

Another person at the house used a metal pole to push the dog off.

As she got to her feet, Manuel’s housemate made a comment to her about the dog being used as a weapon. Manuel replied, “you aint seen nothing yet”.

She went into the kitchen and came out wielding a knife, the blade facing upwards. She began advancing on her housemate, thrusting the knife at her and causing her to flee in fear.

The housemate phoned police.

She suffered a centimetre-long bite mark to her right index finger and two centimetre-long puncture wounds to her calf muscle.

The dog was later destroyed.

When questioned by police, Manuel said her actions were in self-defence.

Counsel William Zhang submitted the sentence starting point should be 12 months imprisonment with an end sentence after uplifts and discounts, converted to home detention.

Manuel had been under significant personal stress due to transitional surgery, Mr Zhang said.

The dog attack was not pre-meditated. Manuel did not inflict any physical injuries with the knife.

Manuel was aware of the need to learn to control her anger and was willing to participate in any rehabilitative programme to help her achieve that, Mr Zhang said.

Judge Cathcart said he accepted Manuel was remorseful and stressed at the time by her personal circumstances and responsibilities.

Home detention was by no means a soft option and could be suitable as the least restrictive option in a case of this type. But Manuel had a significant and highly relevant criminal history, the judge said. She had already been sentenced to home detention for similar offending during January 2017. It had not deterred her.

Manuel also had convictions in 2010 for two counts of assault with a blunt instrument (a metal tube) and in 2011 for assaults with a meat cleaver on two separate complainants. Her history showed an entrenched propensity to resort to weapons and inflict violence.

The need for public protection was high, the judge said. Imprisonment was appropriate. No other sentence would suffice.

The judge agreed with the 12-month starting point identified by Mr Zhang and uplifted it by two months for the prior offending.

There was two months discount for Manuel’s remorse and personal circumstances, and a full 25 percent discount for her guilty pleas.

Six months standard and special release conditions were also imposed.