‘Step up’ or go to jail says judge

A man who says he needs a ‘‘manup course’’ has avoided prison, but will have a judge keeping an eye on him for the next 18 months.

Larry Hati, 30, from Feilding, was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday to 18 months’ intensive supervision for violating a protection order.

The incident happened on October 2 and involved Hati not leaving a house when asked to by the protected person.

When he pleaded guilty in October, Hati told the court he needed a ‘‘man-up course’’ to deal with his relationship problems.

Hati has since started a course to work through his problems.

Before the sentencing hearing began, Judge Jim Large asked a woman to remove a young child from the court and learned the child was Hati’s son.

Hati has many convictions for violence and breaching orders and the judge said he did not want the child to think being in court was normal.

‘‘It would be really sad if the only place he can see his dad was in court.

‘‘He might end up standing where you are in 18 years’ time.’’

A pre-sentence report writer noted Hati was able to talk the talk about changing his ways, but it was now time for him to ‘‘put his money where his mouth is’’, the judge said.

‘‘You cannot change what has happened in your past, but you can change what is in the future.’’

It would be easy to send Hati to jail due to his criminal record, but that would not serve the community or him well, the judge said.

‘‘It is going to take you a long time to unpack what you are carrying now, and put in what you want to take ahead.’’

The judge imposed judicial monitoring for 18 months, meaning he will get reports from probation services about how Hati goes on his sentence.

Although the reports are usually issued every three months, the judge asked that they be monthly for the first three months.

‘‘If things are not going as they should be, or you fall by the wayside, or the wheels come off the train, I expect to be told that.’’

If he behaved poorly on intensive supervision, Hati could be resentenced to something harsher.

‘‘You need to step up and do the business,’’ the judge said.