A man already serving a prison term for a violent crime has been sentenced to a further 14 years after a DNA profile of him matched samples taken from three sexual attacks four years ago.
Tony Matthew Albert, aged 35, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland yesterday to a minimum of 14 years for three home invasion-style sexual attacks in Auckland in January and February of 1998.
Half of his new sentence is to be served concurrently with his present term.
He is serving a term of preventive detention and will not now become eligible for parole until 2015.
Albert admitted in the Manukau District Court in October to 23 charges of rape, sexual violation, indecent assault, assault with intent to rape, threatening to kill, aggravated wounding, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and unlawfully taking a car.
The charges relate to incidents on January 2, February 4 and February 17, 1998, at properties in Manukau, Orakei, and Manurewa respectively.
In each case, Albert entered the home and usually armed himself with a knife from the kitchen.
He would then commit acts of sexual violation against the sole women occupants before robbing them.
Albert's wife, Zenda Albert, 26, unemployed, of West Auckland, appeared with him on seven charges related to the February 17 incident, but all charges against her were withdrawn.
In July 1999, South Auckland police were able to match a DNA profile obtained from a semen sample taken after the Manurewa attack with Albert, making him 850,000 times more likely to be the offender than any other male in New Zealand.
He was convicted and sentenced in 1998 for home-invasion attacks and was to have been eligible for parole in 2008.
Before handing down the sentence, Justice John Priestley said Albert showed a "total lack of remorse".
He said Albert had already spent a large proportion of his adult life in prison, but "... the circumstances of your offending is alarming and deserves stern punishment".
Albert, who refused to stand in the dock when asked to do so during proceedings, hurled abuse at the court while being led away after his sentencing.
Outside the court, one of his victims had only one thing to say on the case: "He got what he deserved."
The officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Nigel McGlone of Manukau, said he was happy with the sentence, which he said was good news for the victims.
Prisoner sentenced to further 14 years
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