Peter Webber was a Whangarei chef and businessman - but he was also a sexual predator who plied young men with free alcohol in the hope of having sexual relations with them.
Yesterday he was jailed for four years for sexually violating a 17-year-old man, who was a friend of one of his employees at Mac's Buffet Restaurant and Bar on Otaika Rd, which he owned at the time of the offences in 2007.
The convictions follow a 2-year jail term Webber served in 2000 for sexual offences against a boy aged between 12 and 16.
Peter Lloyd Webber, 59, chef, appeared in the Whangarei District Court yesterday for sentence after being found guilty by jury last year on two charges of sexually violating a male in October 2007.
Judge McDonald said that despite Webber contending the acts with the man were consensual a jury rejected that.
He said Webber mostly employed young men aged 16 to 19 to work at the restaurant and on Friday nights he allowed them and friends to drink free at the bar after work.
"While there were older adults and women invited, in the main the drinks were for young men who were still at school or had just recently left," Judge McDonald said,
During the trial Webber said he took the young man in question to his accommodation below the restaurant as the man wanted a job and that was the best place to discuss it.
The judge said: "I'm of the view that ... he was grossly drunk and you took him downstairs under whatever pretext ... to get sexual gratification from him. You knew he was grossly intoxicated."
He said Webber was a sexual predator and it was clear from the trial evidence that he had set up scenarios where young men drank to excess.
"In the hope that one of them can be enticed away by you for your own sexual pleasure," Judge McDonald said.
"That's what you did to the boy on this occasion. You were 57, he was 17. You were worldly wise, he wasn't. You had all the power, he had none, or very little."
He said Webber's convictions in 2000 for sexual offences against a boy were a serious aggravating factor, as was the age of the victim. The sentence had to deter those who preyed on the young and innocent and denounce such conduct, while giving the least restrictive outcome under the circumstances.
Judge McDonald said Webber had a series of medical problems, including type 2 diabetes, which he could take into consideration as he would not be able to handle jail as well as an able-bodied person.
He said a starting point for sentencing was four years' jail, but he raised this by six months for the aggravating factors, before reducing it by six months because of Webber's medical problems.
"The least restrictive outcome I can impose is four years' imprisonment," Judge McDonald said.
Webber's sentencing had been delayed several times since he was found guilty in November. Yesterday his lawyer Richard Garbett told Judge McDonald at the start of sentencing that Webber had dismissed him as his lawyer and wanted to engage new counsel.
But Judge McDonald said he would go ahead with sentencing anyway and Webber had to decide if he wanted to re-engage Mr Garbett or speak for himself. After a short break, Mr Garbett was reinstated for the sentencing.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Northern Advocate
'It will be prison': Bus driver, 71, put 'on notice' after kissing boy
The man groomed the boy through their mutual interest in toy cars.