A fine is not enough

The Herald reports:

Anti-violence campaigners have condemned the penalty handed to a Taranaki rugby player who strangled his pregnant partner but escaped with a $750 fine.

Paul Perez, 23, lifted his partner Dana Carlyle Brooks off the ground in May, choking her until she almost blacked out, before he punched her in the nose.

And he gets a fine only slightly more than speeding tickets.

Jane Drumm, executive director of Shine (Safer Homes in New Zealand Everyday), said the sentence was “just not acceptable” and she was extremely concerned for Ms Brooks’ safety.

“When someone puts their hands around a person’s throat and does that, that means they’re very close to being killed,” she said. “That is how women die.

Strangling is no minor assault. It is an attempt to kill, not to hurt.