A rapist who drugged young girls for sex has fathered a boy to a junior prison officer while behind bars in Christchurch's Paparua Prison.
David James Shepherd, 37, got the woman pregnant while serving 11 years for stupefying and raping two girls, aged 13 and 14, he was babysitting at his
house.
The newborn's mother, Raewyn Houia, quit her job as a Corrections officer when nearly four months pregnant in June last year.
Ms Houia moved to the North Island and baby Sean Rawiri Tama Terangi Shepherd was born in Hamilton on December 16.
Both Ms Houia, 37, and Shepherd are listed as parents on the birth certificate. Ms Houia and Shepherd continue to see each other, since his transfer to a North Island prison.
Shepherd, called the Candyman by the Crown, was sentenced in October 2000 on 15 charges, including four of rape, one each of sexual violation and indecent assault, and five of stupefying the girls.
South Island Prisons regional manager Paul Monk said officers were forbidden from having sexual relationships with inmates.
The prison officers' union, the Corrections Association, raised concerns last month, noting that at least five women officers had left or been dismissed from Paparua Prison in the past few years over inappropriate relations with inmates.
-NZPA
