Appeal court grants repeat sex offender new sentence

Repeat sex offender Stephen John McDonald has won an appeal to have his sentence of preventive detention sentence quashed.

In a Court of Appeal decision released today, McDonald was instead sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of six years and eight months.

McDonald pleaded guilty before trial in the High Court in Christchurch to four charges of sexual violation of a boy aged nine to 12.

At the original sentencing in December last year, Justice Graham Panckhurst noted that McDonald had convictions in 1987-88 for indecent assault on a girl who was then aged about eight.

He said the victim impact report on the boy was among the worst he had read.

The boy had suffered significant psychological effects, and his self-esteem and ability to mix with others had been impaired.

Imposing preventive detention, Justice Panckhurst said McDonald represented "an undue risk to the community" and was likely to reoffend.

However, the Court of Appeal decision said no express consideration was given in the sentencing as to why a determinate term and the possibility of an extended supervision order were not sufficient to protect the public.

McDonald had not previously participated in an intensive sex offenders' treatment programme and was willing to do so, and the gaps in offending were evidence of McDonald's capacity to manage his risk, the decision said.

"These factors in combination are, in the view of the majority, such that the need for protection is met by a determinate sentence coupled with the availability of an extended supervision order."

- NZPA