Paul Harris outside Wellington District Court on Wednesday before being sentenced to jail for assaulting Green Party leader James Shaw.

The man who attacked Green Party co-leader James Shaw on the street has gone to jail.

Paul Harris was found to have punched Shaw five or six times while the politician was walking to work in March outside Wellington's Botanic Gardens.

He had pleaded guilty to injuring with intent to injure but disputed the facts of the case.

He then admitted it had been an emotional attack on party politics on abortion while he was grieving over a miscarriage in his family.

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* Shaw was punched five or six times

* A day after being attacked James Shaw walks to work

* Politician attacked walking to work

MONIQUE FORD / STUFF Green Party co-leader James Shaw Green Party leader sporting black eye after being attacked.

Wellington District Court judge Ian Mill jailed Harris for nine months.

A probation report had recommended prison after Harris thought the questions were an invasion of his privacy and he would not consent to electronic monitoring. He called a report writer evil.

His lawyer, Marty Robinson, said Harris had viewed the questions as stressing his family and an invasion. He thought it would protect his pregnant wife not have to electronic monitoring but now accepted that going to prison was more problematic.

He said Harris was the sole breadwinner and there was a chance he could be bankrupt.

The judge declined any application to delay the sentencing.

Robinson said Harris was remorseful, having said he was sorry when he spoke to police.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Paul Harris outside Wellington District Court.

Judge Mill said Harris had been so emotionally aroused he had not been making sense even if he did feel strongly about abortion laws.

"Your lawyer has submitted supervision and community work but I don't agree with that at all,'' the judge said.

He said Harris had a personality that contributed to the offending and an inability to change his thinking which was quite fixed about political issues and the rights of children.

"You are entitled to those views but you are not entitled to use violence to express those views."

Harris interrupted the sentencing to say he had been speaking for the 50 babies that had lost their lives that day.

The judge said Shaw's victim impact statement said he was worried that he would be less accessible to the public and that his family and staff had been shocked by the attack.

Judge Mill said he would have considered home detention but instead gave Harris leave to apply for electronic monitoring once he started his jail term.

Punching but no kicking

At an earlier hearing a judge found Harris threw two punches to Shaw's face, one of which fractured his right eye socket and then when Shaw was on the ground, threw three or four more.

The judge was not satisfied that there had been any kicking.

Harris had told the judge he wanted to talk to Shaw about his party's abortion policy after his wife had recently miscarried.

He admitted his emotions were running high and that he was at fault.

Harris had seen Shaw walking to work while he was driving past. He did a u-turn and got out of his car.

His initial approach was just to talk, but then he confronted Shaw. He admitted tripping him and then hitting him twice but denied kicking him.

Shaw said he heard someone say his name and approach him as he walked near the pedestrian crossing outside the Botanic Gardens in March.

He turned to speak to him but after a quick exchange Shaw decided Harris was not rational and turned to go when the man grabbed him by the lapel.

Shaw said the man said something about stopping and listening and punched him in the face.

"It was pretty solid. I haven't been punched that hard previously."

The attack stopped when two people intervened.

"Initially I went to work because I did not think it was that bad but I started bleeding from the nose and then went to ED."

The main injury was to his eye socket with a lot of bruising and a scan showing a fracture.