A man breaks into a house with a hammer, smashes his way through the doors, including a barricaded bedroom door, and uses the hammer to target an attack on the victim's head.
Grindrod pleaded guilty to the [lesser] charges when a charge of attempted murder was dropped.
So, what exactly does it take to be charged and found guilty of attempted murder? A death? Maybe the judge thought he didn't try hard enough?
A premeditated visit with a weapon.
An hour long walk that failed to diminish his rage.
Breaking down the front door.
Breaking down the barricaded bedroom door.
Deliberately targeting the head with a claw hammer.
Ripping out a bathroom vanity and attempting to crush the victim's head with it.
Repeatedly yelling "I'll kill you" or words to that effect.
Only failing to kill the man because the Police got there in time.
Not a bad effort, surely?
Trevor Grindrod threw everything into his rampage against a man he saw as a rival for his former girlfriend's affections.
First he used a claw hammer and then he ripped a bathroom vanity unit off the wall and tried to hit the victim over the head with it.
The High Court at Wellington was told yesterday that Grindrod, 35, a Wainuiomata panelbeater, had already been on an anger management course when he smashed his way into the Moera house early on January 11.
Justice Warwick Gendall said Grindrod had ample time to calm his inflamed passions on the hour-long walk from Wainuiomata to Moera, but did not.
Instead he smashed holes in doors to get to the victim, who had barricaded himself into a bedroom to phone police. Grindrod attacked the man with a hammer, hitting him about the head, face and body and kicked him when he was on the floor, all the while threatening to kill him.
The final insult to the victim is that the "$3,269" worth of damage on the rental property must be paid (but I doubt will ever be) when the attacker gets out of jail, in several years time. I guess he loses his bond then.
[Update] Perhaps I should be making some kind of point with this post? I thought it obvious, but one can never tell. It seems that if people are not even being tried for obvious "slam dunk" crimes (and I fail to see how the above case could not be construed as attempted murder), then pleading out on lesser charges means lesser penalties. The anger management courses that this criminal went through that failed to have any effect are in all likelihood arising from previous charges.
I'm suggesting here that our current approach of "going light" on offenders isn't working. So all calls (by the Chief Justice) to let people out early to avoid overcrowded prisons isn't really a solution, and these prisons are overcrowded even though we seem to discount sentences, offer early parole, do the requisite anger management course and moan that we have the second highest rate of incarceration in the world (countries using capital punishment and the lash might be cheating you think?).
This was a case of attempted murder, but the law decided not to push. Let's hope that this gift is appreciated by the criminal, and whatever time he does finally do is enough to make him change his behaviour. I'm not left feeling like that's a strong possibility.
Related Link: Anger Management Course Didn't Help
Grindrod pleaded guilty to the [lesser] charges when a charge of attempted murder was dropped.
So, what exactly does it take to be charged and found guilty of attempted murder? A death? Maybe the judge thought he didn't try hard enough?
A premeditated visit with a weapon.
An hour long walk that failed to diminish his rage.
Breaking down the front door.
Breaking down the barricaded bedroom door.
Deliberately targeting the head with a claw hammer.
Ripping out a bathroom vanity and attempting to crush the victim's head with it.
Repeatedly yelling "I'll kill you" or words to that effect.
Only failing to kill the man because the Police got there in time.
Not a bad effort, surely?
Trevor Grindrod threw everything into his rampage against a man he saw as a rival for his former girlfriend's affections.
First he used a claw hammer and then he ripped a bathroom vanity unit off the wall and tried to hit the victim over the head with it.
The High Court at Wellington was told yesterday that Grindrod, 35, a Wainuiomata panelbeater, had already been on an anger management course when he smashed his way into the Moera house early on January 11.
Justice Warwick Gendall said Grindrod had ample time to calm his inflamed passions on the hour-long walk from Wainuiomata to Moera, but did not.
Instead he smashed holes in doors to get to the victim, who had barricaded himself into a bedroom to phone police. Grindrod attacked the man with a hammer, hitting him about the head, face and body and kicked him when he was on the floor, all the while threatening to kill him.
The final insult to the victim is that the "$3,269" worth of damage on the rental property must be paid (but I doubt will ever be) when the attacker gets out of jail, in several years time. I guess he loses his bond then.
[Update] Perhaps I should be making some kind of point with this post? I thought it obvious, but one can never tell. It seems that if people are not even being tried for obvious "slam dunk" crimes (and I fail to see how the above case could not be construed as attempted murder), then pleading out on lesser charges means lesser penalties. The anger management courses that this criminal went through that failed to have any effect are in all likelihood arising from previous charges.
I'm suggesting here that our current approach of "going light" on offenders isn't working. So all calls (by the Chief Justice) to let people out early to avoid overcrowded prisons isn't really a solution, and these prisons are overcrowded even though we seem to discount sentences, offer early parole, do the requisite anger management course and moan that we have the second highest rate of incarceration in the world (countries using capital punishment and the lash might be cheating you think?).
This was a case of attempted murder, but the law decided not to push. Let's hope that this gift is appreciated by the criminal, and whatever time he does finally do is enough to make him change his behaviour. I'm not left feeling like that's a strong possibility.
Related Link: Anger Management Course Didn't Help
I'm really upset reading this :'(
ReplyDeleteMy name is Aalliyha Grindrod - Kunaiti, and he is my biological father :'(