A Hamilton man has been sentenced for a violent street assault on an autistic victim in what a judge described as “mistaken vigilante justice.”
Sheldon Roma, 21, was one of three men who leapt from a car on Sandwich Road, St Andrews, and launched an unprovoked attack on a 29-year-old man who has the mental and emotional maturity of a young child.
Roma received four months’ home detention and must pay $1,000 in emotional harm reparation.
The group punched and kicked the victim repeatedly, leaving him crumpled on the footpath until a passer-by intervened and shouted at the attackers to stop.
The attack took place on 2 March, outside All Saints Community Church.
Witnesses reported that after chasing the victim down, one of Roma’s associates lifted him into a choke hold before dropping him to the ground. The man was later hospitalised with facial injuries, swelling, and multiple grazes. Roma ultimately surrendered to police after authorities released a photo of the trio.
At sentencing in the Hamilton District Court, Roma’s lawyer, Jesse Lang, sought permanent name suppression, claiming threats had been made online toward Roma and his young family. Judge Arthur Tompkins rejected the application, saying the threshold had not been met and noting there was no evidence of genuine danger.
The judge said the victim had previously been living independently but is now too anxious to leave home. He stressed that Roma and his associates acted on baseless assumptions: “A serious beating in the street against a very vulnerable victim.”
