A woman not long released from home detention for violence against her former partner was angry he wasn't answering his phone.
Huria Rene then burst into his house late one night, pulled a hatchet out of her backpack and began swinging it around.
The woman with 32 previous convictions for offending, including assault with a weapon and wilful damage, was cut little slack when sentenced in the Nelson District Court for her latest bout of offending.
She is now serving another sentence of home detention on charges of assault, possession of a weapon, wilful damage and a representative charge of breaching a protection order after the incident in May last year.
Late at night on 22 May, Rene went to her former partner's address with a hatchet she had in a backpack.
A protection order had been in place against her for a year.
Rene knocked on the door, brushed past the flatmate who opened it, and immediately began yelling. She pulled out the hatchet and started swinging it around, smashing objects within range, the police summary of facts said.
Her former partner tried to restrain her and was able to wrestle the weapon off her.
Rene then reached for a screwdriver and dug her nails into the victim as he continued to restrain her, police said.
She later told police she had gone to the address to ask why her former partner didn't answer the phone.
Crown prosecutor Jerome Lao said it seemed Rene's most recent sentence of home detention for violence "wasn't that effective".
Defence lawyer Emma Riddell said Rene had cooperated on what had been a "very long time on very restrictive" electronically monitored bail leading up to sentencing.
Judge Tony Snell said a pre-sentence report indicated Rene showed little remorse and blamed the victim for her conduct which was essentially invasion of a home with a hatchet.
However, he factored in her guilty pleas and time spent on bail to reach an end sentence of 12 months in prison, commuted to six months' home detention with a further six months post-release conditions.
