Man expects lengthy prison sentence for sex offending against children

The man accepts he will get a lengthy custodial sentence. Photo / NZME

A man who admitted sexual offending against children was taunted with the words "The dogs are waiting" as he was led away to prison.

The man's trial, scheduled for Napier next week, will now not go ahead after the defendant pleaded guilty to 20 charges on Wednesday.

The man, whose name was suppressed to protect the identities of his two victims, had been on bail awaiting trial but was taken into custody after entering his guilty pleas and being warned that a jail sentence was all but certain.

"The likelihood of imprisonment is overwhelming," Judge Russell Collins told the man when he appeared in the Napier District Court.

The charges included sexual violation, doing an indecent act and unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged 12 to 16, and abduction for the purposes of sexual connection.

Judge Collins noted that these were "strike offences" and gave the man a first strike warning, which will reduce his options for parole for any future offending.

The judge ordered a pre-sentence report but did not ask for electronic monitoring to be canvassed, again indicating that there was little prospect of a home detention sentence instead of imprisonment.

Defence counsel Laurie McMaster said the man had accepted there would be a "lengthy custodial sentence".

The judge remanded the man in custody until September 13 for sentencing.

A number of people were in the public gallery and one called out "The dogs are waiting" as the man was led away.

This was an apparent reference to gang members in prison.