Hawke’s Bay prison inmate Eruera Peratiaki admits kicking duck, stomping on its head

WARNING: This article deals with domestic violence and animal cruelty and may be distressing to some readers.

An inmate chased, kicked and stomped on a duck which landed inside the prison wire, leaving it so badly injured it could not move and had to be put down.

Eruera Peratiaki – who was in jail for repeatedly punching, strangling and stomping on his ex-partner over a prolonged period – appeared in Hastings District Court today charged with ill-treatment of an animal.

He pleaded guilty and Judge Gordon Matenga remanded him back into custody until July 19 for sentencing.

The court was told that Peratiaki, 24, was eating an apple in a grassed area of Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison last December 4 when he saw the duck.

He threw the apple at the duck, striking it in the body, then ran towards it and kicked it with force.

The duck tried to fly off but came down on the grass again. Peratiaki followed it and stomped on its head, leaving it badly injured and immobile.

Another man nearby came over and put the duck out of its misery.

When spoken to by police, Peratiaki made a “full admission”, Judge Matenga said. However, a police summary of facts included no explanation of the attack.

Peratiaki was sentenced to four years in prison last year for repeatedly assaulting, injuring and causing grievous bodily harm to his partner, including while they were trapped in shearers’ quarters together during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

The violence began when they were living in Hawke’s Bay and continued after they moved to Auckland. The couple separated, but Peratiaki’s partner agreed to return to him after he moved to Nelson in 2021.

The beatings resumed on the night she arrived in Nelson.

The violence occurred frequently, mostly when Peratiaki was drunk.

The Nelson District Court was told in April last year the victim often had a black eye and was strangled by Peratiaki about 20 times during their relationship, each time to the point where she was unable to breathe.

At other times, he rendered her unconscious by stomping on her head or throwing her head-first into concrete.

Peratiaki was convicted on three representative charges and several separate charges of assaulting a person in a family relationship, two of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and further charges of assault with intent to injure, intimidation and strangulation.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.