Stanley Willard Hamon, 46, and Elizabeth Tanya Matangi, 33, held hands as they were sentenced by Judge Chris McGuire in Rotorua District Court on Thursday.

 

Both were sentenced to 18 months in prison for wilfully ill treating and assaulting a boy and a girl.

 

However, Matangi will serve a total of three years and 10 months in prison, as she was earlier sentenced to two years and four months after admitting separate charges of abducting two children from Child, Youth and Family care.

 

During the couple's trial, the jury heard that Hamon held a gun to the boy's head and threatened to bury him in a forest.

 

He'd forced both children's heads down a toilet and hit them with a belt as Matangi stood by.

 

Hamon also threatened to chop the girl's fingers off and kicked her in the buttocks.

 

Matangi was accused of bashing the boy over the head with a pot and she scratched, slapped and bruised both children.

 

It had been argued that some of the couple's actions had been to punish the youngsters for bad behaviour.

 

However, Judge McGuire said that given the boy had been to 10 schools in 10 years, and the girl to 10 schools in an even shorter time, their behaviour was unsurprising.

 

He described Hamon and Matangi's lifestyle as transient.

 

During the trial, held earlier this year, Judge McGuire ordered that the girl not testify because of her extremely fragile state.

 

At his request he'd heard evidence, in the jury's absence, from a social worker and psychologist.

 

Judge McGuire said this was the first time in his 15 years on the bench that he made made such a call.

 

He described the trial as "very distressing" for that jury.