Man’s meth-fuelled, jealousy-driven attack leaves partner semi-conscious
WARNING: This story contains details that may disturb some readers
A man fuelled by meth and jealousy subjected his partner to a torturous beating which involved punching, kicking, biting, sticking his fingers in her nose, and forcing her to remain naked.
By the time police found the victim of Jordan Tokarangi Roberts’ “persistent and calculated” attack in their Hamilton home, she was barely conscious.
The woman was left covered in bruises with facial swelling, two black eyes, suspected facial fractures and a bite to her right hand.
Roberts appeared in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing on Monday after earlier admitting charges of kidnapping, assault with intent to injure, injuring with intent to injure, breaching a protection order, and failing to answer district court bail.
The first attack began on December 18, 2024, when Roberts was driving with the victim and he accused her of cheating.
He punched her repeatedly in the face and body, and stopped her from leaving the car.
About 10.30am that same day, Roberts woke the victim and again accused her of cheating on him.
He punched her twice in the head before she fled to safety.
He was arrested and appeared in court five days later, bailed, before failing to appear twice.
About 2am on February 25, 2025, the pair were at their home taking drugs before going for a walk to catch up with family.
They went back to their house to smoke meth, and while there, Roberts became “increasingly agitated and vulgar”, grabbing the victim by her breasts in front of whānau.
There was a brief argument between Roberts and her cousin, before the whānau left.
Roberts then set on her, punching her in the head and face several times.
Roberts told her to leave, but when she reached the door, he pulled her back into the kitchen, continued hitting her, and dragged her into the hallway.
He told her to get into the “middle room”, where he continued punching and kicking her.
After about 10 minutes, he made her get into the bath with him.
There, he continued beating her until a scar above her left eye from a previous assault began bleeding.
Throughout the attack, Roberts continually interrogated the victim about why she didn’t stand up for him when he was confronted by her cousin.
After the bath, he refused to let her get dressed, and instead continued his vicious assault; punching, kicking, biting her right breast, sticking his fingers in her nose, and pulling her hair, causing her to nearly lose consciousness.
He then forced her to lie on the ground in a bedroom and still refused to let her get dressed.
When Roberts wasn’t paying attention, she got up and ran to a neighbour’s house, but he ran after her and dragged her back to the house.
He then locked and chained all the doors and grabbed a knife, pointed it at her, and told her, “Hurry up and explain bitch, I will stab you right now”, and “I’ll stab you c***”.
She begged him not to, and the attack ended when Roberts told her to get in bed with him and go to sleep.
Later that morning, Roberts made the victim wear a mask and hoodie to disguise her injuries from his mother, who was home after working a night shift.
His mother asked him to leave the house, but he refused.
As a result of being intimidated, she left the house and slept in her car before calling police.
They arrived to find the victim in the bedroom, dazed and semi-responsive.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Temm said it was not only a serious assault but, given his history, the attack was a concern.
He accepted alcohol and drugs flavoured the offending, and urged the judge to issue a firearm prohibition order, despite no weapon being used in the assaults.
Roberts’ counsel Glenn Dixon accepted his client should get an uplift for his history and offending on bail, but said his client had “reflected” on his behaviour.
He said his alcohol and drug addiction, combined with mental health issues, put Roberts “on a trajectory to offend in this way”.
“He clearly has trust issues,” but added that there was an “overreach” by the Crown relating to a “deviation” of the victim’s nose.
He said that was not caused by his client, but a former partner.
“But there would have been physical and psychological trauma.”
Judge Kim Saunders said the victim would have suffered “without doubt” physical and psychological consequences.
She labelled his offending as “persistent, and calculated to degrade and control her”.
“It was described by the Crown in their submissions as ‘brutal and malicious’ and to an extent I think that is a fair description.”
She accepted that the length of the woman’s detention in the house couldn’t be calculated “with precision”.
“You did subject her to a prolonged, sustained and relentless assault of punching her, kicking her, dragging her around the house, putting your fingers in her nose, and so on.
“It is offending that was calculated and designed to degrade and control her as much as possible.”
“The attack continued to the point where she nearly lost consciousness, then forced her to remain in the house, naked.
“Even when she tried to flee from you, you then recaptured her.”
Judge Saunders took an overall starting point of four years and eight months before applying a 15% discount for his guilty pleas, and 10% for his addiction, background, and mental health.
She jailed Roberts for three years and six months, and issued a firearm prohibition order and protection order against thevictim.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.