Northlander Pierre Huxtable sentenced to home detention for sexual grooming

Pierre Huxtable has been sentenced to home detention for sexually grooming a 13-year-old girl for sex.

A Northlander who admitted sexually grooming a 13-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her has failed in a bid to keep his name suppressed.

Pierre Rene Huxtable was granted interim name suppression in the Whangārei District Court on May 18 for a week to enable his lawyer Julie Young to make submissions on why his identity should be permanently suppressed.

The order for interim name suppression was lifted by Judge John McDonald after he ruled against Huxtable's argument that publication of his name would cause his family hardship.

Huxtable was sentenced to six months' home detention on May 18 on one charge of meeting a young person following sexual grooming and another of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16.

Judge McDonald said Huxtable spent time with the girl, picked her up and dropped her off last year. They exchanged 3199 texts in which the judge said Huxtable was sexually suggestive.

Because of Huxtable's influence over her, Judge McDonald said the victim had to repeatedly lie to her family about her whereabouts.

On one occasion, he placed his arm over the top of her shoulder, rubbed her neck and back, pulled her tighter to him and kissed her on the lips.

When his offending came to light, Huxtable accepted the text messages were inappropriate and that he knew she was 13.

Judge McDonald said Huxtable's offending has had a huge impact on the girl and her family, solely driven by him in an attempt to have a sexual relationship with the girl.

The Crown submitted a starting point of between 12 and 18 months jail for the grooming charge with a three to six months uplift for indecent assault.

Young said home detention was appropriate.

The charge of grooming was introduced into the Crime Act 1961 in response to the digital age we now lived in and was considered serious by Parliament, Judge McDonald said.

"It was serious for this young girl. Serious for this young girl's family," he said.