An Aucklander who knocked out a Queenstown cop with a single punch last year has avoided prison.
Otto Johansson, 31, was ‘‘agitated, aggressive and intoxicated’’ when he went berserk at the Camp St taxi stand in the resort early on January 31, a court has heard.
After smashing a taxi window and punching one of its body panels, he rounded on its driver, who ran to the nearby police station for refuge.
When the police officer came out to calm him down and restrain him, Johansson hit him with a haymaker to the side of the face, knocking him out and causing him to hit his head on the footpath.
Johansson was sentenced in Manukau’s court in June on three charges arising from the incident: aggravated wounding with intent, intentional damage and threatening language.
He was also sentenced on a charge of assault with intent to injure arising from an incident in Auckland, for which he was on bail at the time of the Queenstown offending.
Mountain Scene has just received Judge David McNaughton’s sentencing notes on Johansson’s case — four months after requesting them.
The Crown’s summary of facts says Johansson had been ejected from a CBD bar shortly before the incident.
After the assault, he was restrained and arrested by another officer while an off-duty nurse gave the seriously-injured policeman first aid.
The cop suffered a broken jaw — for which he needed surgery in Dunedin Hospital — a broken collarbone and severe concussion.
Appearing at Johansson’s sentencing by audio-visual link, the officer said he spent four days in hospital.
The multiple fractures in his jaw meant he couldn’t eat solids for six weeks, causing him to lose a lot of weight.
A cut above his eye had required five stitches, leaving him with a scar, and he’d experienced tiredness and difficulty concentrating as a result of his concussion.
McNaughton said it was fortunate those symptoms had eventually settled, but the officer had found the impact on his wife and daughter to be the hardest part.
‘‘At times he’s felt like a burden on them, and he describes his daughter’s anguish at seeing him in hospital initially with these serious injuries.’’
Aggravating the offending were the serious injuries caused, the ongoing psychological consequences, the targeting of the head, and the fact the victim was a public official.
Counsel Kingi Snelgar said the defendant — a self-employed builder and married father of three — had no previous convictions, was a pro-social member of the community, and active in his church.
A report by a counsellor said a tornado that destroyed Johansson’s Papatoetoe home in 2021 had caused trauma from childhood family violence to resurface.
McNaughton said he accepted ‘‘severe stress factors’’ had caused a person of good character ‘‘to act in a way which you otherwise never would’’.
On all charges, he gave Johansson sentencing discounts for those personal factors, his previous clean record, guilty pleas, and for demonstrating his remorse by being willing to participate in restorative justice, pay reparation and undergo counselling.
That reduced the term of imprisonment to 22 months, which he converted to a final sentence of 10 months’ home detention.
Johansson had to undertake assessment and treatment for alcohol issues, and complete an anger management programme.
He was also ordered to pay reparation of $630 to the police officer, $700 to the taxi driver, and $400 to his Auckland victim.
