Abuser locked up for good

A 58-year-old man with a 30-year history of indecent assaults on children was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland yesterday to preventive detention.

Brian Raymond Harris had pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault and three charges of inducing boys aged 8 and 10 to commit indecent acts.

The charges date from December to March when Harris was working as a caretaker at a creche in Auckland and living in a shed beside a playground.

During sentencing, the court heard that Harris, deaf since birth, had himself been sexually abused as a child, that he was of relatively low intelligence and did not understand the impact of his actions on his victims.

Philip Hamlin, for the Crown, said Harris had reoffended over 30 years in spite of terms of imprisonment relating to indecent assaults on 10 boys and one girl and in spite of counselling.

"The opportunity was there. Unfortunately, it has not worked," said Mr Hamlin.

He submitted that there would be a risk of further offending once Harris was released from jail.

Preventive detention, carrying an indefinite term, would allow continued official oversight of his case if he was ever released.

Hugh Leabourn, for Harris, said his client's offending arose when he was in contact with children. Yet Harris was not a man who drove his car to public lavatories or who swam in the children's areas of public swimming pools.

Mr Leabourn said Harris had expressed remorse to the families of the two boys involved, but the letters he wrote them illustrated his intellectual level and an inability to communicate effectively in written form.

Prison would be like solitary confinement for a man like Harris, said Mr Leabourn as the court proceedings were interpreted for Harris in sign language.

Mr Leabourn submitted that a sentence of between four and six years would be appropriate.

Justice Sir David Tompkins said the charges were representative.

The offending, involving the 8-year-old victim, whose family Harris befriended, had been protracted.

Sir David said Harris had enticed the two boys into his shed and, when the opportunity arose, had also offended with the 8-year-old on his family property.

"The effect on the two boys and on their families has been dramatically destructive," said Sir David.

One family were considering leaving New Zealand as a result of Harris' activities.

A psychiatrist had been unable to determine if Harris suffered from paedophilia "in a psychiatric sense" because of his disability, Sir David said.

However, Harris had acknowledged that he had committed more indecent offences than those he had been convicted of.

Sir David said he had to confront the issue of whether to impose a finite jail term of eight to nine years or preventive detention, which would be for not less than 10 years.

"I am satisfied that, on the evidence, there is a substantial risk that whenever you are released from prison, you will reoffend and that therefore a sentence of preventive detention in this case is expedient for the protection of the public.

"It means that when you are released, steps can be taken in an endeavour to safeguard children more effectively than if a sentence was for a fixed term."