The family of a man who continued to assault a police officer after knocking her unconscious but avoided a jail sentence has released a statement saying he has "expressed his remorse" for the alcohol-fueled incident.
In a statement, the Delegat family say "Nikolas takes full responsibility for his actions", and claim he simply "made a bad decision in the heat of the moment, which he regrets".
Nikolas Delegat - heir to a $450 million wine-making fortune - was sentenced to 300 hours' community work and ordered to pay $5000 to the officer.]
But the Police Association claims the rich-lister's son would have ended up in jail if he was poor and Polynesian.
"Had we been talking about a young Polynesian man from South Dunedin, then I'm sure we would have been talking about whether it was 12 months or six months - maybe even longer," Greg O'Connor of the Police Association said.
Delegat attacked Constable Alana Kane - a former Otago women's representative cricketer - outside a Dunedin bar, knocking her out and continuing to punch her while she was unconscious.
"These sorts of things are rare - this is not something that's dealt with on a regular basis at all," University of Otago proctor Dave Scott said.
The 19-year-old is the son of wine-maker Jim Delegat, and will one day inherit his parents' massive fortune.
"There's absolutely no doubt that had this lad not been able to afford the lawyer that he did, he would have been looking at some serious time," Mr O'Connor said.
"The police officer themselves, who I've spoken to, they're not very happy about this."
Police said in a statement that "Constable Kane is grateful for the support and concern that members of the public have expressed to her" and that "her focus now is on returning to work."
Constable Kane is on light duties, and is still recovering 18 months after the attack, as police ponder appealing the sentence handed down to the son of a rich-lister.
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