Courtroom erupts as rapist jailed for attack on 10-year-old

Family and friends of an 11-year-old girl hurled abuse at a judge yesterday in anger at the eight-year sentence handed down to the teenager who raped her.

Justice Potter had just sentenced 19-year-old Daniel Patrick Livingstone to jail with a minimum non-parole period of five years when the abuse and cries of anguish emerged from the public gallery.

Livingstone had confronted the then 10-year-old about 3.20pm in Whangarei on April 4 this year and said to her, "Hi sexy."

He dragged her down a driveway threatening to kill her if she screamed.

He then forced the the girl to the ground and raped her behind a shed.

After he had finished he told his victim, "Look you have made me dirty," before walking down the drive.

The complainant fled to a relative's home and Livingstone was later identified and arrested.

Livingstone was sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to changes of abduction with intent to have sexual intercourse, rape and threatening to kill.

In her victim-impact statement, read to the court on her behalf, the complainant explained she thought Livingstone was going to kill her.

She was now too scared to do anything by herself for fear she would be attacked.

"I only feel safe when I am with my mother," she said.

She voiced her disgust and hatred for Livingstone, saying: "Even the wildest animals don't do this to each other."

Crown prosecutor Peter Magee said Livingstone's offending was at the most serious end of the scale and he called for a lengthy prison term with a minimum non-parole period was needed. Livingstone had destroyed a family, especially the relationship between the girl and her father.

"This is every child and every parent's nightmare all wrapped up into one event," he said.

Defence lawyer Dave Sayes accepted Livingstone's offending had had a profound impact on the complainant and her family and acknowledged the girl's honesty and courage.

Livingstone was prepared and anxious to receive help for his various drug and alcohol addictions, Mr Sayes said. He asked Justice Potter to give Livingstone a significant discount for his early guilty plea and said a non-parole period was not necessary.

Justice Potter told Livingstone that, in a brief moment of brutality, he had ruined a young girl's life.

He had told the probation officer that he was drunk at the time of the offence and had no recollection of what happened. His probation report indicated that he was at high risk of reoffending and had little motivation to change his ways.

He had a lengthy list of previous convictions for mostly theft, burglary and traffic offences but received a two-month jail term for assaulting a female and had a conviction for cruelty to animals.

Justice Potter imposed the eight-year sentence with the five- year non-parole period on the rape charge. Livingstone was sentenced to five years jail for abduction and three years for threatening to kill. All sentences were concurrent.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE, WHANGAREI