'Repugnant' child sex offender avoids open-ended jail sentence

Open Justice reporter·NZ Herald·

7 Oct, 2022 03:10 AM3 mins to read

The man was sentenced in the High Court at Napier. Photo / NZME

This article deals with the subject of child sexual abuse and may be distressing for some readers.

A child sex offender with convictions covering six victims accepts his actions are "morally repugnant" and has avoided an open-ended jail sentence.

The 29-year-old man appeared in the High Court at Napier on Thursday after pleading guilty to nine charges related to three girls - three of rape, five of unlawful sexual connection and one of indecent assault.

Seven of the charges related to one victim and one rape charge was representative, meaning it covered repeated offending against a girl who was aged between nine and 13, between 2009 and 2013.

However, the court was told that the man had previous convictions, and had previously served time in prison, for offending against two other girls aged 10 and 12, and a 15-year-old boy.

He was already on the child sex offender register and had received two warnings under the now-repealed three strikes law for serious repeat offenders.

The man's name cannot be published to protect the identities of his victims, some of whom are related to him.

Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker argued for an open-ended sentence of preventive detention, saying the court was dealing with someone who had "deep-seated issues" and who would remain an ongoing risk to the community without successful treatment.

But defence counsel Sheila Cameron said preventive detention would be "premature and disproportionate".

Her client clearly posed a high risk of reoffending at the present time, but he had never been offered treatment.

According to a psychiatrist's report, he may pose no risk on release after going through prison-based programmes which were considered the best treatment, she said.

"He appreciates his own actions are morally repugnant," Cameron said.

Justice Jillian Mallon sentenced the man to eight years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years and six months. This means he cannot be released until 2028.

She gave him credit for his guilty pleas, which meant that his victims did not have to go through the trauma of giving evidence in court.

She said the man had been the victim of abuse himself when young and had grown up in a chaotic environment where he was not taught about appropriate sexual boundaries.