Prison for sex assault on boy

Judge Geoff Rea sentenced Mark Day last week at the Napier Courthouse.

A man who disputes turning on porn before committing an indecent act on a 10-year-old boy he was watching it with has been jailed.

Mark Day, 38, was sentenced last week to 15 months' imprisonment for indecently assaulting a boy aged under 12. He pleaded guilty at an earlier court appearance.

When sentencing Day in Napier District Court, Judge Geoff Rea said the defendant, who was 37 at the time of the offending, lived alone and from time to time children from the neighbourhood would go to his house to play electronic games.

Home detention simply does not reflect the seriousness of the offending.

Judge Geoff Rea

When the complainant, a 10-year-old boy, went to Day's house earlier this year to play video games, the defendant asked the boy to watch a pornographic video on the computer.

Judge Rea said the details about who switched on the video were disputed by Day, who said it was not him but the boy.

"It makes little difference - it was your home, your bedroom and it was you who should have shut it down," the judge said.

Once the video was on, Day committed an indecent act on the boy and himself.

Judge Rea said there were no physical injuries but there was a psychological effect "this type of offence would usually have on a 10-year-old boy".

Originally submissions had been filed to the court indicating a starting point of fewer than two years' imprisonment, which would make Day eligible for a sentence of home detention.

"I was prepared to consider that," the judge said.

However, after failing to find any other similar cases which had ended in a sentence of home detention, he said that type of offending must result in a prison sentence.

He said home detention denounced the conduct and sent a message to others that sexual offending against children did not happen. "Home detention simply does not reflect the seriousness of the offending."

The starting point reached was 20 months' imprisonment.

Day was given a discount for his early guilty plea and was handed a 15-month prison sentence.

He was also given his first warning under the three-strike rule.