Man shoves fist in partner's mouth, breaks jaw, in haunting night of violence (2024)

Warning: This story contains disturbing details about family violence

During a torturous and prolonged night of violence, William James Whata held his partner down and shoved his fist down her throat with such force that he broke her jaw.

The attack came after the 48-year-old had tried strangling his partner multiple times. By the time emergency services arrived, the woman was discovered with numerous injuries including visible damage to her jaw.

Now, Whata has been jailed for the violence which started when he went around to the victim’s property on March 4, 2023, despite having been issued a five-day police safety order.

A CCTV camera at the property captured most of the events from that night, which began about 10pmwith the pair arguing in the lounge.

The victim turned and walked away when Whata grabbed her, put his arm around her neck, and put her in a chokehold.

She fell to the ground with Whata on top of her. He let her go and she got to her feet but he chased her back into the lounge where he tried to put another chokehold on her.

She managed to push him off but fell to the ground and Whata took the opportunity to put her in another chokehold for about 7 seconds, causing her to go in and out of consciousness.

As he held her down, Whata then kneed her in the head and torso four times and continued strangling her for about a minute. Once he let go, she again tried to run for her life, making it outside, but Whata chased her.

Some time later he got a knife and followed her around the house with it as she carried out household tasks.

He stood guard to ensure she didn’t push her domestic violence button and at one stage cornered her in the kitchen with the knife to her head and punched her.

At 1.45am, Whata threw her through the open ranch slider and then held her down on the ground, before closing the door and curtains. While on top of her, he put his hand inside her mouth and pried apart her jaw with downward pressure for about 10 seconds.

She begged him to stop and tried to push him off but he continued similar attacks for two more hours.

Some time later in the morning she said she needed to use the toilet, where she pressed her panic button and alerted emergency services.

St John paramedics discovered she’d suffered a broken jaw due to visible jaw drop, and had multiple cuts and swelling to her face.

‘He’s genuinely remorseful’

Crown solicitor James Lewis pushed for a 50 per cent minimum term of imprisonment given the seriousness and prolonged nature of the assault.

There was also history of family violence.

The victim hadn’t engaged with police so a protection order could not be issued, he said.

Whata’s counsel, Rosalind Brown, successfully argued for no minimum term of imprisonment to be laid down.

She said the sooner Whata could appear before the Parole Board, the sooner a release plan could be considered for him to then begin treatment programmes while still behind bars.

Brown said until people were aware of the issues in his Section 27 report and those could be addressed, he shouldn’t be punished for continuing on a trajectory where no steps have been taken to get him off his violent path.

He was also willing to do restorative justice but the conference didn’t go ahead.

“He has done everything that he can do in his circ*mstances and you can take from the words that he said, that he is genuinely remorseful and committed to get himself off the path that he has been on to date.”

He was also a father of three children which was another added motivation to change.

Judge Marshall told Whata he had a lot of work to do and if he didn’t change, he would end up spending longer terms in jail.

After taking a starting point of eight years and three months imprisonment, the judge took off 45 per cent worth of discounts for his guilty pleas, remorse, and Section 27 factors.

Whata, who earlier accepted a sentence indication on charges of strangulation and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was jailed for four years and seven months.

Judge Marshall declined to issue an MPI.

Whata, who has been in custody, will be eligible for parole later this year.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and been a journalist for 20.