WARNING: This story details family violence and may be upsetting.

A woman feared for her life as her partner held her in a tight chokehold, covering her nose and mouth, as her traumatised young children looked on.

Now, Cullen Devon Sione Amituanai has been sent to prison for the violent attack, and further threats that followed against the woman he’d been in a relationship with, and her ex-partner.

Judge Paul Geoghegan said the 27-year-old, who has a previous conviction for strangulation, carried out a “brutal attack on a woman who was entitled to feel safe in her own home”.

“There are children all over New Zealand ... who are traumatised by domestic violence meted out generally to their mothers by their fathers or their mother’s partner, and this is no exception,” he said.

Amituanai’s series of violent outbursts began when he grabbed his partner by the hair and dragged her, while her children looked on, into a bedroom where he hopped on top of her and punched her repeatedly, all over her body.

He put her in a headlock and covered her nose and mouth, to the point she felt suffocated and couldn’t breathe. When she tried to get free, he tightened his grip around her neck, a court summary of facts said.

He then took her keys so she couldn’t leave.

The woman said in a victim impact statement she had feared for her life and thought she was going to die. She was also worried for her children, fearing they might be harmed too.

She suffered bruising to both of her arms and had a sore neck and head following the attack.

The next morning the woman’s ex-partner, the father of her two children, arrived to collect the children and asked her to come outside too, because he feared for her safety.

Amituanai told the woman that if she left, he would stab her ex-partner in the face, in front of the children.

The woman went with Amituanai in his truck and they stopped at a petrol station, where the woman’s ex-partner pulled up next to them.

He got out and walked in front of the truck to get to the woman’s side of the car to speak with her. Amituanai turned on the truck and attempted to run him over.

Things came to a head again as the two cars were driving nearby, following the petrol station incident, and Amituanai stopped suddenly in front of the ex-partner’s car, got out with a machete, and went running towards him.

A victim impact statement provided by the ex-partner said he was upset knowing his children had witnessed both an assault on their mother, and their father being chased with a machete as they sat in the car.

Police later stopped Amituanai and issued him with a safety order, prohibiting him from contacting the woman for five days. However, he later sent her Snapchat messages apologising to her.

He also drove past her address several times, before being arrested for breaching the safety order.

Amituanai’s explanation for the events, outlined in a pre-sentence report given to the judge, was that the ex-partner hadn’t accepted his relationship with the woman, and this had made him lash out.

“An explanation like that Mr Amituanai is really separating you from taking responsibility. Nothing made you do anything, you were unable to regulate your emotions.”

The judge said strangulation was the leading charge, imposing uplifts to a starting point of 30 months’ imprisonment for other offending and previous violence convictions.

He had two previous convictions for assaulting a person in a family relationship and one for strangulation.

Amituanai was given a 20% discount for his guilty plea, and then sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment.

FAMILY VIOLENCE

How to get help:If you’re in danger now:• Phone the police on 111 or ask neighbours or friends to ring for you.
• Run outside and head for where there are other people. Scream for help so your neighbours can hear you.
• Take the children with you. Don’t stop to get anything else.
• If you are being abused, remember it’s not your fault. Violence is never okay.
Where to go for help or more information:
• Women’s Refuge: Crisis line - 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843 (available 24/7)
• Shine: Helpline - 0508 744 633 (available 24/7)
• It’s Not Ok: Family violence information line - 0800 456 450
• Shakti: Specialist services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and children.
• Crisis line - 0800 742 584 (available 24/7)
• Ministry of Justice: For information on family violence
• Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga: National Network of Family Violence Services
• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men’s violence towards women.
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