Benjamin Meredith has been jailed for five years and four months following a series of attacks on a woman. Photo: NZME / Emily Moorhouse
Warning: This article discusses extreme violence and may be upsetting.
A woman subjected to a series of brutal beatings because she had eaten "too much toast" is struggling to shake what she saw in her attacker's eyes as he meted out his punishment.
Benjamin Meredith told the woman to "just handle it while I punch your teeth out".
But now, the 45-year-old insists he is "100 percent sincerely apologetic and remorseful" and wants to change since he has "found the Lord".
"I have now found faith in my life. Obeying God has given me guidance to obey the law," he told Judge Michael Crosbie on Thursday in Christchurch District Court.
Meredith appeared for sentencing on admitted charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, impeding breathing and a representative charge of threatening to kill.
Judge Crosbie allowed Meredith to start the hearing with a karakia, spoken first in te reo Māori and then in English.
Meredith, who previously served in the New Zealand Defence Force for six years, acknowledged the seriousness of the offending and said he accepted responsibility and wanted to leave behind old habits.
He turned to his family, who were sat in the public gallery, and thanked them for their kindness, stating it was an "honour and a blessing" to have their support.
Judge Crosbie outlined the woman's victim impact statement, which said her spirit had not been broken despite the attack.
She said while the emotional scars of what happened may diminish, she could not forget the way Meredith spoke to her or what she saw in his eyes the day he attacked her.
"She believed you were intent on humiliating her. Sounds and smells trigger her," the judge said.
According to the summary of facts, Meredith woke the woman - who had stayed overnight at his house on 30 July 2023 - and yelled at her for the amount of toast she had eaten earlier that morning.
She was then subjected to a series of violent assaults for the next 12 hours until she was finally able to escape the home.
Meredith repeatedly punched the woman in the face, pushed her to the floor and stomped on her head. He then continued to punch her in the head and face before leaving the bedroom, ordering her to clean up the mess.
He also ordered her to clean up the kitchen, swinging a punch at her when she tried to get past to do so but missing. He told her she was lucky he missed, and he was going to "f*** her up".
Meredith threatened to knock the woman's teeth out and told her he was going to kill her.
He ordered her to hold her head up so he could get a clear punch of her face.
"Just handle it, handle it, while I punch your teeth out," he told her.
The assaults continued and included him twisting her nose, pulling her hair, choking her and standing on her head.
Later, once it got dark, Meredith told the woman to make him a coffee. While she was doing so, he hit her in the face and punched her in the ribs.
When he was preoccupied in the kitchen, she ran down the hallway and to her car.
After she left the address, Meredith messaged the woman a series of threatening voice messages.
"Think you're f***** smart ... I'll crack your f***** eyeballs in b****," one voice message said.
Reports provided to the court outlined Meredith's upbringing which involved poverty and "regular beatings" from parental figures in front of siblings and cousins. Gang presence was also common, and he witnessed "considerable violence" between adult figures.
He served in the army before moving to Australia but then began using methamphetamine.
Judge Crosbie said it was clear from looking at Meredith's background that violence was a "learned trait" for him.
"It doesn't excuse what you did but it helps to explain it," he said.
The judge said the summary of facts was hard enough to read let alone imagine what it was like for the woman, adding that he had read a lot of summaries.
He sentenced Meredith to five years and four months imprisonment.
This story was first published by the New Zealand Herald.