A transgender woman has lost a bid for home detention after attacking her partner with a claw hammer, stating prison was unsuitable for her given her sexual identification.
Jazz ‘Ra’ Rima-Samuels, named as David Rima-Samuels in court […]
[Counsel Kerry Tustin] urged the judge not to send her client to jail and issue a home detention sentence as prison was “very difficult for her”.
“She is technically still a male so is in a man’s prison.” […]
“She is a person who is significantly fragile by nature because of her sexual orientation which … it’s not a choice.
“You don’t choose to be transgender.” Being transgender was something she still had “significant issues with” and caused her to be more reactive than others “which was proven on this day,” Tustin said. […]
After taking a starting point of three years in jail, Judge Cocurullo issued various discounts before getting down to 19 months.
However, he declined to convert that to home detention.
“This was very serious violence, no matter the background.
“You have taken to the victim with a hammer, to the head. That’s just going to do some damage.”
NZ Herald
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