A woman who strangled and threatened to kill her mother has been sentenced to intensive supervision after spending a combined nine months in custody and on electronically monitored bail.
Stasia Janka Polaczuk, a 48-year-old Carterton woman, appeared in Masterton District Court on Friday for sentencing, having admitted to charges of strangulation, assault, and threatening to kill.
On December 8, 2022, Polaczuk came to her mother’s Carterton house and knocked on her door.
She went inside, strangled her mother, threatened to kill her, threw her out of the house causing her to fall to the ground, and kicked her multiple times.
When the police arrived, her mother had a raspy voice from the strangulation and several scratches on her body.
After the attack, Polaczuk spent four months in custody, then five and half months on electronically monitored bail.
In her victim impact statement, the mother said the attack had significantly affected her and caused her anxiety.
Polaczuk said in court that the victim impact statement was “full of s***” but later apologised for the outburst.
“I’m sorry, your honour; I was hurt by some of the things my mum has put in there,” she said.
She said she was sorry for the attack and was willing to engage with restorative justice.
Lawyer Mike Kilbride said his client had engaged in anger management counselling and was starting to restore relations with her family.
Polaczuk’s father told the court he was proud of how far his daughter had come and said he thought some of the family relationships were “on the mend.”
Judge Barbara Morris said it was an “awful attack,” with a starting point of two years and two months in prison.
But Judge Morris applied discounts for a guilty plea and Polaczuk’s willingness to engage in counselling.
She noted that Polaczuk had spent enough time in custody and then on electronically monitored bail, under conditions described as “basically home detention,” that no further punitive sentence was necessary.
“You’ve done everything to set your life up so this won’t happen again,” Judge Morris said.
“I’m glad to see those glimmers of hope emerge from a fractured relationship, and I wish you all the best.”
Polaczuk was sentenced to 18 months of intensive supervision.
