The man tricked three Auckland sex workers into having sex by showing them fake online payment records worth thousands of dollars. File photo / 123rf
A man who tricked three prostitutes by faking online banking records showing he’d paid them thousands of dollars for sex has dodged a prison sentence and been granted permanent name suppression.
One of his victims told a sentencing hearing she only agreed to have sex with the man out of financial desperation as she had urgent bills to pay.
She now felt deceived, violated and disgusted by the man’s manipulative offending, which was purely motivated by his own sexual gratification.
“In many ways this felt like rape. And I wasn’t the only one.”
The then 27-year-old man even forged a lab test document showing a clear blood test result to convince the woman he was free of sexual diseases so they could have unprotected sex.
Learning after the sexual encounter that his clean health certificate was forged filled her with terror and dread, she told the court.
“Not only had I been robbed, but my health and even my life had been put at risk.
“It sent me into a really dark place. I felt completely empty and defeated.”
The man was originally charged with three counts of rape.
The Crown argued his duplicity meant his victims did not have informed consent when they agreed to have sexual intercourse, believing they had been paid for the intimate acts.
However, two of the rape charges were later dropped, and a judge ruled the man had not committed rape as the laws in New Zealand currently stand.
The man appeared for sentencing yesterday in the Auckland District Court for using a forged document and three charges of obtaining by deception.
It emerged he has mental health problems and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His lawyer, David Dickinson, argued that naming his client or allowing his photograph to be published would cause serious psychological harm.
He also argued the man should be granted a discharge without conviction so a criminal record did not harm his future employment prospects or ability to travel overseas for sport.
Judge Kevin Glubb described the offending as “cynical and deliberate”, and a “breach of trust against vulnerable victims”.
He said the man’s actions caused significant harm to the three women. There was little indication of remorse or insight for his offending. During a restorative justice meeting, the man had indicated there may be “further victims”.
However, the judge granted the man permanent suppression on the basis of medical evidence and refused the media’s application to take blurred photographs as he sat in the dock.
While the man was “concerned about embarrassment that may arise” from his offending and the possibility of being branded a sex offender, the judge refused his request for a discharge and convicted him on the charges he faced.
After discounts for his guilty pleas, previous good character and mental health problems, the man was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
Court documents obtained by the Herald set out details of his offending.
Between April and September 2022, the man made contact with the three sex workers via the social media platform “Seeking Arrangements”.
He offered to pay the first woman $2000 for sex and later met her in a Starbucks cafe. He asked for her bank account number and typed it into his laptop computer, then showed the woman what appeared to be a successful internet banking payment message.
They went to a nearby CBD hotel and had sex. When the woman realised the next day she had not been paid she messaged the man, but he did not respond and later blocked her.
He contacted the second victim in August that year. The man asked her to obtain a health check before meeting so they could have unprotected sex.
She asked him to undergo his own health check, including an HIV blood test. The man later sent her a forged laboratory testing result document showing he was clear of HIV.
The next month, he met the woman at the same Starbucks cafe and agreed to pay her $2000, then $5000 a month if the encounter was successful. He showed her another fake payment message and they went to a nearby hotel for sex.
The man could not ejaculate, and the woman offered to give him a partial refund.
That night he sent the woman an email claiming her services were “terrible” and “unsatisfactory”. He said he’d contacted his bank manager to cancel the payment because they were “not compatible”.
The third victim was duped in the same way and also blocked after realising she had not been paid.
The second victim said she felt “hopeless, disgusted and sick” after being told her services were below par.
She had honoured her side of the deal and felt used, stupid and embarrassed after realising she’d been duped.
It was financial pressure that had driven her to prostitution.
She said the man had exploited vulnerable sex workers in the most intimate way. It was a violation of her body and her trust.
Another victim told the court she had been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and major depression as a result of the man’s crime.
She had kept the deception secret from her loved ones due to feelings of intense shame.
“Most of all, I felt filthy.”
The woman said she’d been “groomed and coerced” into an intimate act with a stranger. She had not been able to fully heal in three years due to the lack of closure.
The man was originally charged with three counts of rape, and three charges in the alternative of obtains by deception, as well as the forgery charge.
The Crown eventually withdrew two of the rape charges and Dickinson applied to have the remaining rape charge thrown out.
He argued there was no legal basis for a charge of rape when consent had been obtained through fraudulent means.
However, the Crown argued consent must be “full, voluntary, free and informed”.
In this case, the man had engaged in “dishonest and fraudulent conduct” designed to trick the victims into allowing sexual activity to take place.
“It follows that the complainant’s consent was obtained by this deliberate deception”, meaning there was no informed consent, the Crown argued.
“Absent the deception, the complainant would not have agreed to engage in sexual activity.”
A decision by Judge Glubb in April last year sided with the defence.
He said the law did not support a rape charge in the circumstances, and the charge was therefore dismissed.
Despite being deceived about payment, the victim was not misled as to the act itself, the judge found.
A law change would be needed before a court could find a deliberate act of fraud impaired a person’s consent to sexual activity.
While there may be “some appetite” for such a law change to recognise a person’s right to free and informed consent, the case had to be assessed under current legal frameworks.
“While the complainant might not have agreed to allow sexual activity absent the purported payment, that of itself does not vitiate the consent freely given to the act of intercourse.”
Lane Nichols is the Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your every weekday.