Jade Bennett sentenced for smashing 81yo Hamilton man’s head into brick wall

Hamilton man Jade Bennett followed and threatened an 81-year-old man through a supermarket car park before delivering a vicious king-hit that would knock him out cold.

The man’s head was slammed into a brick wall, leaving him unconscious, and he has given up his 62-year career and his home.

He now lives in an isolated cabin with no power due to the impact of the attack.

The man has also been left feeling “a bit cheated” by the justice system after his attacker Jade Alex Bennett was jailed, but given leave to apply for home detention.

“I believe this guy is violent,” the victim, who does not want to be named for fear of retribution, told NZME.

“He wanted to kill me. He said that on that day.”

The victim was targeted by Bennett, whose partner was begging with a dog outside the Anglesea St Woolworths in Hamilton on 7 November, 2024.

The victim told NZME that when he walked through the supermarket carpark, he was asked how much money he had on him, and when he replied, “nil”, Bennett followed him to his nearby business.

However, Bennett claimed the victim made a comment of a “sexual nature” to his partner, which the victim vehemently refuted.

Bennett, 31, could be heard on security camera footage saying, “f**k you, you’re f*****g dead”, before he grabbed the victim’s head and slammed it into a brick wall.

CCTV showed him collapse headfirst through a glass door, which opened on impact, and onto the ground.

Bennett then took off, as the victim lay unconscious on the ground for several seconds.

He has since abandoned his rural Hamilton home, leaving it in need of $73,000 in remedial work, to move east.

There, he lives in an isolated and small cabin with no power or cellphone reception, because of his “genuine safety concerns”.

Bennett, 31, has now been sentenced in the Hamilton District Court for assault with intent to injure and threatening to kill, along with separate charges for assaulting his partner.

That happened in May last year when he threw a plate at his partner, narrowly missing her, before picking up a door lying on the ground and throwing it at the woman and her dog.

‘It was not a random attack’

At the recent hearing, Bennett disputed the extent of the injuries the victim suffered.

The summary of facts stated he experienced memory loss, balance and hearing impairment, loss of focus and a concussion.

But in his victim impact statement, the businessman claimed he had suffered a fractured jaw and affected speech.

Before the attack, he had undergone an optical procedure that was stitched, bandaged and painful.

He said as a result of the attack, his eye had still not healed from the procedure and his face was permanently disfigured.

The police prosecutor accepted the man had earlier received a prosthetic eye.

However, the prosecutor said it was for Judge Arthur Tompkins to determine what effect, if any, the pre-existing condition had on the extent of the injury.

The victim also claimed he suffered memory loss for up to six months, but Bennett’s counsel, Afitu Veatupu, argued it was only three days.

Judge Tompkins said the memory loss was fluctuating and uncertain, and it was possible that, after a significant head injury, further losses could appear.

He determined that while the precise extent and duration of some of the injuries were “somewhat unclear”, the attack had “a serious and ongoing effect on the victim”.

The judge said that despite having read through all of the provided material, he could not find a reason for the attack.

Veatupu said his client had reacted to the victim allegedly making a comment of a “sexual nature” to Bennett’s partner when she was begging outside the supermarket.

“While it’s no excuse, that is the reason about how it all came about.

“It was not a random attack.”

Judge Tompkins said there was no reference to that in the written submissions, while Veatupu assured the judge there was.

The judge said it was “disappointing” that the allegation had not been put to the victim before the sentencing.

Police said there was no audio from the CCTV footage at the supermarket, but accepted there was an exchange of words.

“However, the comments made to the [partner] are not accepted,” the prosecutor said.

As the sentencing stretched through until after lunch, the victim had to leave, with his daughter explaining that he now gets tired in the afternoons.

That left him frustrated as he’d hoped to read his victim impact statement to the judge.

In sentencing Bennett, Judge Tompkins said Bennett had written a letter to the court expressing his remorse and hope that the victim would fully recover.

The judge said, given the nature of the attack, “and at the very least the debilitating effect”, the injuries would be long-lasting.

He jailed Bennett for 19 months, but granted him leave to apply for home detention should a suitable address become available.

‘I’m lucky to be alive’

Speaking with NZME after the attack, the victim said he “feels a bit cheated” that he was not able to read his statement, and that Bennett might not have to serve all his time behind bars.

“Nineteen months, I think, is very light,” he said.

The victim denied making any sexual remarks to Bennett’s partner.

“I didn’t get near her that day. The supermarket surveillance should have shown that,” he said.

He said he still had issues with his eye, he had to relearn to walk without falling and had lost his independence.

He has seen doctors, a dentist, physiotherapists, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a neurologist, an ophthalmologist and he has had in-home help, he said.

“I’m lucky to be alive.”

-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.