Stuff Digital Edition

PUBLICANS STILL REELING FROM BEATING

Bill Hickman

Sunday night used to be the shift Wellington publicans Sue and Ray Cullis enjoyed the most.

The couple had a small collection of regulars who would pop in for a pint, a chat and maybe a game of Scrabble around the cosy, wood and brick fireplace at the Sprig and Fern Tavern in Thorndon.

Now, Ray Cullis fights to control his anxiety during these shifts after a frenzied assault on Sunday, August 25, 2019, that left him with a displaced jaw, the loss of the majority of sight in his left eye, and ongoing trauma from multiple blows to the head and body.

‘‘As I walk in the door I can feel myself winding up . . . the nerves start jangling. Sometimes it hangs on all night,’’ Cullis says.

As the couple recall the incident more than two years on, they sit across from the spot where Hugh Soper, then 23, stomped on the then 72-year-old’s head and threatened to kill him in front of shocked witnesses.

Soper’s family had gathered to celebrate the birthday of his mother, who was a regular customer. Six others occupied tables near the front of the room, leaving the group seated behind the fireplace at the rear of the building. After dinner, much of the family left, leaving Soper behind with another guest.

As time passed, according to the Cullis’, Soper’s conversation became more boisterous and littered with profanity. He was eventually asked to leave. What followed was a sudden, violent assault. Cullis was punched repeatedly and dragged into the centre of the room, where Soper stomped on his head, smashed a bottle and threatened to kill him with it. Sue Cullis describes Soper as ‘‘manic’’. ‘‘Everybody was just trying to pull him off. Ray ended up pushed into the fireplace.

‘‘I remember Ray saying: I can’t see out of my left eye and I think I am having a heart attack.’’

Sue Cullis’ finger was broken in the melee and would later require two operations. Ray Cullis spent two days in hospital undergoing brain scans and heart monitoring.

He later required emergency surgery to his eye after swirls in his vision were found to have been caused by bleeding from debris dislodged from his carotid artery during the assault.

A further two operations were undertaken to repair his vision but Cullis still was left with only peripheral sight in his left eye.

He also suffered months of vertigo due to crystals in his ear being displaced by the blows to his head.

Two years on Sue Cullis cannot hold back the tears as she describes the impact of the assault. ‘‘It is not a day that is going to go away,’’ she says. The couple considered walking away from their business. Returning seven days a week to the scene of the attack triggers traumatic memories but they are determined to not let it defeat them. The pub is ‘‘like home to us’’, Ray Cullis says. ‘‘We have put a lot of energy into this place. It is not really a job, it is a part of our lives . . . you can’t stop your life.’’

Soper initially fought the charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and injuring with reckless disregard but in September – weeks before the case was set to go to trial – he pleaded guilty. Yesterday, Soper received a sentence of seven months of home detention and was ordered to pay the Cullis couple $4000 in emotional harm reparation. The couple believe the guilty plea likely spared him from spending time in prison.

A little over a year before the assault, Soper’s father, Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper, published an article recounting his experience participating in the justice process after his other son, Henry, was stabbed in Courtenay Place by 38-year-old Jon Edwards.

Soper quoted from a letter of apology written by Edwards and said the expectation was that he would go to jail.

Edwards was sentenced to four months of home detention after spending eight months in jail on remand and, in addition to the letter of apology, was ordered to pay reparation of $3000.

In his story, Barry Soper described the sentence as ‘‘outrageous’’.

‘‘Justice should not be for sale,’’ he wrote.

Sue Cullis says Hugh Soper’s lawyers contacted them to propose a restorative justice meeting but after the drawn-out legal wrangling they found it hard to see a genuine motive behind the initiative.

Twenty minutes into being interviewed, a tiring Ray Cullis cannot carry on. He apologises. The strain of bringing the experience to the surface again seems etched into his features. ‘‘There is a spark gone,’’ he says. After attending Soper’s sentencing, Ray Cullis said he doubted the sincerity of Soper’s expression of remorse expressed via his lawyer, Mike Antunovic. ‘‘It is just lip service really. I am pretty disappointed.’’

In his 2018 article, Barry Soper wrote of his own experience with the court system saying, ‘‘justice rarely goes the way you expect it to’’.

After the sentencing the couple are still unsure of what the future may hold and they struggle to find the words to respond to the sentencing.

‘‘I feel like we have aged 10 years. It has been 27 long hard months,’’ Sue Cullis said.

In a statement yesterday, Barry Soper said the family was ‘‘deeply upset and disappointed’’.

‘‘We support Hugh as he takes responsibility for his actions and sets about rebuilding his life.

‘‘The family is devastated for the victims and we wholeheartedly apologise for the effect this has had on their lives.’’

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2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

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