Paul Campbell

Background

Background
From the Dominion Post February 2008
A WELLINGTON man has received an 18-month jail term for kicking his former partner in the lower back or upper buttock, knowing she had had major spinal surgery. A jury found Paul Campbell, who is the father of the victim's triplets, guilty of two charges of injuring with intent to injure and one of assaulting a female. The victim, the eldest daughter of crown prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue, was assaulted three times on the same night in 2002 or 2003.

A Palmerston North lawyer representing the Crown, Alastair Hall, said it was nasty and cruel offending against someone who was much smaller and had a particular vulnerability in the area Campbell kicked. However, Campbell's lawyer, Bill Johnson, had submitted to the judge in writing that no lasting damage was caused. In the High Court at Wellington, Justice Jill Mallon said the kick with steel-capped boots, came after Campbell, 29, had hit the woman's head against the side of a van and later grabbed her hard around the upper arms and threw her on a bed.

Justice Mallon said Campbell had an extensive history of drug and alcohol abuse and first had treatment for that abuse when he was 18. He is serving a jail sentence of four years and seven months on other charges, including robbery, and is soon to be considered for parole. The new sentence is cumulative on the first term. Justice Mallon said Campbell could be considered for release on home detention on the new sentence. He was acquitted after a trial last week on another charge of injuring the same woman.