Despite pleading guilty, Mohib denied striking her with a hammer and his wife later recanted her statement to police where she said a hammer was the weapon. ``If I did wrong I should be punished for it but not my whole family,'' Mohib told the Herald. In a pre-sentence interview, Mohib denied using a hammer and blamed the victim's parents for his frustration which led to the attack. In August, Justice Wylie overturned the decision and said the district court judge had failed to correctly identify the seriousness of the attack. The High Court judge earlier ruled Judge Cunningham had made an error in the law by usurping the function of immigration authorities.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 24, 2017 03:08 UTC