Violence Erupts in Division 3 Match: Waitematā FC Player Sentenced

On a winter afternoon at Sunnynook Park on Auckland’s North Shore, a routine Division 3 match between Waitematā FC and Albany United disintegrated into violence that has now landed one player in prison.

What began as a whistle for a stoppage ended as a criminal case.

According to court documents, at about 3.30pm, Waitematā player Kumar ran up behind an Albany opponent and kicked his right foot, sending the player stumbling forward. The pair exchanged words. Tempers snapped.

Kumar then drove both hands into the player’s chest with force, knocking him backwards. The shove lit the fuse. A full-blown melee erupted between the two teams.

Dragged to the ground by another Albany player, Kumar briefly disappeared under the tangle of bodies. He got up, though, and went looking for the same opponent, who was now standing on the fringes of the fight.

Kumar charged. He punched the Albany player in the jaw, dropping him to the turf, then kicked him in the face while still wearing his boots. Witnesses had to haul him away.

The victim, later described by a teammate as the “smallest player on the pitch”, was left bleeding and badly hurt. He required surgery for a broken jaw and had to take time off work to recover.

The match never reached a natural conclusion. The referee cut it short before the brawl ran completely out of control. One Albany United player told the Herald last year their team had been warned about Waitematā beforehand and said the side had been “pretty scrappy” throughout the game.

The attacker, that same player said, was gone almost as soon as the damage was done.

“Doing that and then running off, it’s just a f***ing cowardly way to do it,” he said.

Waitematā FC moved swiftly. President Conan McKinstry told the Herald Kumar was “immediately removed from the club” and made it clear there would be no way back.

“He’s not welcome back at the club,” McKinstry said, adding that Waitematā had been co-operating with police.

A 10-week police investigation followed. Kumar was arrested one year ago this week and initially faced a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, an offence carrying a maximum of 14 years in prison.

He eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge: injuring with intent to injure, which carries a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.

The victim did not attend this week’s sentencing hearing and no victim impact statement was read in court. The judge was told the player had no interest in meeting Kumar in a restorative justice conference, a process that would have allowed an apology face-to-face.

For a time, it looked as if Kumar might be clawing his way back from the edge. Judge Retzlaff noted he had started a stopping violence programme and had even applied for a discharge without conviction. There were signs of progress.

Then came another eruption.

Last month, around 4am, Kumar was getting a ride home from a Kingsland bar with relatives when, according to court documents, he suddenly punched a male family member sitting beside him in the back seat. The driver pulled over. Kumar turned on a female relative, punching her twice in the face and dragging her out of the car by her hair.

When the male victim demanded to know why, Kumar hit him again and kept attacking after he fell to the ground. Kumar fled but was arrested a short distance away.

He initially denied assaulting his relatives. When questioned about the football incident, he claimed self-defence.

His lawyer, Osborne, told the court Kumar is now ashamed of his “impulsive and violent behaviour” in both episodes and said his client has no memory of why he attacked his family members. Osborne said Kumar is “very remorseful for the harm he’s caused” and accepted that a short prison sentence was inevitable because Kumar had no suitable address for home detention.

The fallout stretches beyond the prison gates. A deportation notice has been issued. Osborne said Kumar wants to fight it, but admitted that challenge will be difficult.

Judge Retzlaff sentenced Kumar to 18 months’ imprisonment. He urged him to rebuild when he gets out, even if deportation means doing it away from his family.

“The physical harm you caused is clear,” the judge said, adding that he had no doubt the Albany player also suffered psychological harm. “He should have been entitled to enjoy a soccer game without this happening to him.”

The judge refused a request from the Herald to photograph Kumar in court, pointing to the player’s lack of previous convictions, his youth and what the judge called “past experiences of trauma and violence that he himself experienced” at the hands of his father.

“You have not had a happy upbringing in certain seasons of your life,” Judge Retzlaff said.

Then came the blunt warning that now hangs over Kumar’s future, on and off the pitch.

“You need to develop a mechanism to steer away from this violence, or it’s going to keep landing in prison.”