Wealthy businessman chained woman up in 'dungeon'

Photo / File

A wealthy businessman who chained up a woman in his "dungeon" and forced her to perform sex acts has been jailed for 15 years.

The 56-year-old was found guilty at trial of 15 sex and drug charges, some of which came from providing methamphetamine to underage girls in return for sexual services.

At Auckland District Court today, Judge Russell Collins jailed imposed the lengthy jail term along with a minimum non-parole period of eight years.

The judge said he was "far from convinced" about the defendant's prospects of rehabilitation, who was deemed a high risk of reoffending by probation.

"I don't see them as high at all. There's no indication whatsoever of remorse," Judge Collins said.

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The man stood trial with a 20-year-old female co-accused who was also found guilty of four counts relating to providing the businessman with young girls for his sexual gratification.

The court heard how she would attract the drug-addicted teen victims to his plush inner-city apartment with the promise of methamphetamine.

"He used his position of authority, money and sense of entitlement to lead a hedonistic lifestyle, preying on young people who were living vulnerable lives in Auckland city," Crown prosecutor Jo Murdoch said.

The most serious case saw a woman in her 20s picked up off the street by associates of the defendant.

She was taken back to his pad, into a "dungeon" where she was stripped naked and shackled to a "device" which left her incapable of resistance.

The victim was taken into a room where the defendant was forced to perform sex acts on him for what she told the jury felt like hours.

At one stage she begged him to rape her to get it over with.

"He degraded her further saying she looked beautiful when she cried," Ms Murdoch said.

Judge Collins said her evidence during the trial was pivotal to the Crown's case.

"Anyone who heard that testimony will never forget it," he said.

"The more evidence she gave the more compelling it became." The judge referred to the victim-impact statements provided to the court, the contents of which he called "predictable but disturbing".

His lawyer Mark Ryan said his client had made a lot of progress on addressing his addiction issues since the offending.

"He's a very astute businessman who fell from grace, like a number of people who have got involved in methamphetamine. He's identified that and he wants to serve his sentence, do courses and then get back into the community and put something back into the community he's taken from." He asked the court to continue the man's name suppression, which was granted by the judge until February.

The hearing was briefly interrupted by a woman in the public gallery who launched into an expletive-riddled rant at the judge and was removed from court.

The man's co-defendant was due to be sentenced this afternoon but was delayed by the judge because of other outstanding charges.