A 33-year-old man has been sentenced and ordered to pay reparations of $4259.12 to electricity company Te Aponga Uira and around $700 in court fines and court costs for three separate charges.

Katuke Junior Katuke, who appeared before Justice of the Peace John Whitta at the Criminal Court in Avarua this week, was convicted of assault with intent, excess blood alcohol and careless driving.

JP Whitta said that on March 29 of this year, Katuke was at home with his partner and were consuming alcohol when some family members arrived. They joined them and continued drinking until the next morning.

He said an argument began between him and his partner’s brother, and he struck the victim.

The Court heard that the victim ran away and locked himself in a laundry. Katuke kicked the door down and assaulted him again by punching and kicking him. He also pushed the victim into a door and forced him down onto a table and choked him.

The Court heard a medical report on the victim showed there no lasting impact, either mental, emotional, or physical. The victim returned to work and intended not to associate with the defendant anymore.

For the excess blood alcohol and careless driving charges, the Court heard that on June 16 this year, Katuke was driving a pick-up truck and crashed near the Nikao Social Centre.

JP Whitta said Katuke was drinking at various locations during the previous evening and when driving from one of the locations he lost control and hit the power pole. His blood alcohol test result was 266.1 milligrams.

On the assault charge, Katuke was sentenced to 15 months’ probation supervision with the first six months to be served on community service.

As alcohol was seen to be a contributing factor to his assault charge, JP Whitta ordered that Katuke not purchase or consume alcohol and refrain from entering liquor-licensed premises, bars or nightclubs.

He was ordered to attend any counselling directed by Probation Services and not to leave Rarotonga without the permission of the High Court. He was also ordered to pay $20 reparation for the victim’s medical report.

For EBA, he was ordered to pay a $400 fine and $50 court costs and is disqualified from holding or applying for a Cook Islands driver’s licence for 12 months. Katuke was also ordered to pay $150 reparations for the blood analysis report, and $4259.12 for the reparations of the power pole.

He was further ordered to pay a $75 fine, plus $50 court costs for careless driving.