Ben Haggerty gave the woman a pill to make her sleepy. He dropped her home five hours later after sexually violating her in a car. Photo / 123rf
WARNING: This story mentions sexual offending and pornography
A man who drugged a woman he met online, dressed her in a nappy and forced her to suck a dummy in a bid to recreate “nappy porn” they’d watched together on his cellphone.
The bizarre details of Ben William Haggerty’s offending were revealed in the Wellington District Court this week, as he was sentenced on three charges of unlawful sexual connection and possessing 40,000 objectionable images.
At the hearing, his victim spoke of the fear she felt that night and the thought she was going to die.
“I became the meat on the bone to chew off, rape, sodomise, abuse and throw away as if I was scum,” she said.
The woman told the court the 32-year-old had ruined her for one night and his offending consumed her. Her hair fell out due to stress, she couldn’t sit properly, she’d dropped out of study and struggled to walk down the streets where she grew up.
“The depression from being a victim of such a shameful act as what you put me through lingers in me,” she said.
According to the summary of facts, Haggerty met the woman on an online dating app.
They agreed to meet, with the woman making it clear she wouldn’t be having sex with him.
When they met in the early hours of the morning in September 2023, Haggerty drove his victim to a secluded spot in Paraparaumu, out of phone range.
He gave her Quetiapine, an anti-psychotic, which made the woman feel sleepy and drowsy. She wanted to go home, but Haggerty told her she could sleep in the back of the car, where he had blankets and pillows.
According to the summary of facts, while resting in the back, Haggerty lay next to the woman and asked her to watch “nappy porn” on his phone. The footage showed a young woman wearing a nappy.
Haggerty wanted the woman to re-enact the videos. When she refused and reiterated that she didn’t want sex with him, he tied her hands together, removed her clothing from the waist down, and dressed her in a nappy and forced her to suck a dummy.
Over the next couple of hours, he sexually violated the woman, raping her both with and without a condom, at one point stopping to smoke methamphetamine before he continued to assault her.
Frightened, the woman lay still on the bed, upset and crying. She was dropped home five hours later, with injuries that included minor scratches, tears and bruises.
In court, she revealed her true feelings that night and the trauma she suffered.
“My begging and pleading became music to your ears. My body your tool and my life your toy, tormenting an unconsenting body, just so you could get an ounce of pleasure out of my suffering.”
At sentencing, Judge Peter Hobbs noted the parties couldn’t agree on the aggravating factors.
The Crown submitted that by taking the nappy, dummy and ligature with him that night, it suggested a degree of planning and premeditation on Haggerty’s part.
It also submitted that the victim was alone and vulnerable in a secluded area, without cellphone coverage.
But Haggerty’s lawyer, Elizabeth Hall, suggested that because the two met on Grindr, a platform where people met for sexual activity, her client had taken the items with the expectation of sexual activity.
The Crown submitted a starting point of 11-12 years, higher than the 8 to 8.5 years the defence asked for.
Judge Hobbs determined that a starting point of 10 years was appropriate, noting there was some degree of premeditation and planning and the victim’s hands were bound.
In addition to the sexual charges, Haggerty was also sentenced for possessing pornography, after searches by NZ Customs and police uncovered significant quantities of objectionable material on devices seized from Haggerty’s home.
In total, more than 40,000 images, most of it was child exploitation material.
Hall submitted that, given the sheer number of images seized, it was impossible for her client to view them all and suggested he’d only distributed them to a small group of people.
The judge acknowledged that considering the number of images alone was a blunt instrument, but said the scale of offending was significant, with most of the images falling into the most serious category for pornography.
On the charges of possessing pornography, he adopted a starting point of six years’ jail, which, coupled with the sexual offending, left a starting point of 16 years’ jail, which he reduced to 14.5 years after taking totality into account.
In determining the final sentence, the judge took into account Haggerty’s personal factors.
Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams urged the court to exercise some caution in relation to giving Haggerty credit for remorse, after the pre-sentence report writer had expressed doubts.
In relation to rehabilitation prospects, Williams suggested that Haggerty hadn’t taken up previous opportunities he’d received as a result of past sentences, including intensive supervision.
Hall emphasised that her client had a traumatic and difficult background as a result of a myriad of complex needs.
She submitted that, through all that trauma and difficulty, it was difficult for Haggerty to manage and moderate his personal behaviour, particularly relating to relationships.
Hall suggested that her client’s remorse was genuine and his comments in the pre-sentence report had been misconstrued.
She said Haggerty recognised he needed help, something he’d been honest about.
She sought a 20% discount for Haggery’s guilty plea, a further 20% for background circumstances and rehabilitative prospects and an additional 5% for remorse, which he’d expressed in a letter to a judge, that he asked be passed onto his victim.
Judge Hobbs noted that he had a considerable amount of information about Haggerty, some of which conflicted.
“When I consider in the realm what is contained in the pre-sentence report and the psychological report, I’m not of the view any additional credit is appropriate for remorse.”
But what the judge said he couldn’t ignore was the abuse and trauma Haggerty had suffered in his youth.
“That is likely to have moulded and influenced your view of the world in terms of relationships”, granting Haggerty a 15% discount for personal factors and 20% for the guilty plea.
On the sexual violation charges, the judge jailed Haggerty for nine years and five months, but declined to impose a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) that the Crown had sought, saying any release date should be left to the Parole Board.
On the possession of objectionable publication charges, Haggerty was sentenced to four years in prison, to be served concurrently.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.