WARNING: This article deals with the subject of rape and may be upsetting for some readers.
A 17-year-old mugger who dragged a stranger into the bushes at Auckland’s popular Albert Park and raped her - threatening her at knifepoint while a 15-year-old associate restrained her partner - can now be named, five months after he began serving a prison sentence.
Name suppression finally lapsed today for Peter Kosetatino, whose parole eligibility appears weeks away.
Kosetatino was sentenced in Auckland District Court by Judge Claire Ryan in December to two years, two months and one week in prison for what the judge described as “despicable and disgusting” behaviour. During that lengthy hearing, the judge also predicted her decision would likely be appealed - if not by the defence for being too heavy-handed then by the Crown for being too light. She was correct on both counts.
The defence initially indicated an intention to appeal both Judge Ryan’s decision to deny permanent name suppression for the teen and her denial of a home detention sentence. But both bids were later dropped. Instead, both parties appeared at the High Court at Auckland today as lawyers for the Solicitor General tried to convince Justice Peter Andrew that the District Court sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.
Sexual violation by rape carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, while aggravated robbery is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.
The teen had already robbed two men at the same Auckland Central park five days earlier, in November 2022 when he and the 15-year-old accomplice confronted the couple as they strolled through the area about 1am. The victims, both students, were headed home after having spent the evening celebrating the woman’s 21st birthday.
“The young persons brandished the knives at the complainants and threatened them, telling them not to move or they would be stabbed and telling them to get on the ground,” court documents state.
The defendant groped the woman while searching for items to steal, then “immediately took [the victim] by the arm and walked her to a nearby bush, directing her movements at knifepoint”. He threatened again to stab her if she didn’t do as instructed, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.
“She was very much alone in a bush in the darkness with no one there to help her,” the District Court judge noted in December as she recounted the “appalling offending”. “It was terrifying for her.”
When the traumatised rape victim returned with the defendant from the bushes several minutes later, she tried to negotiate a bank transfer in exchange for the safe release of her and her boyfriend. When her partner tried to talk to her, the defendant stepped in and placed his knife to the young man’s throat.
“Shut the f*** up or I’ll kill you,” he warned.
Both teens eventually ran off but were arrested several hours later. Kosetatino eventually pleaded guilty to both charges.
“This has destroyed me,” the rape victim said while confronting Kosetatino in court last year. “The worst part for me is the nightmares. I wake up drenched in sweat every night.”
She said a two-year prison sentence would be too easy, describing such an outcome as a reason why some rape victims don’t trust the system enough to report such crimes.
“I’ve endured more pain than you can imagine,” she said, urging the judge to reject Kosetatino’s bid for home detention and name suppression so that other women would be safe. “Please do not let this continue. Please stop it here.”
During today’s hearing, Crown prosecutor Zoe Hamill suggested the District Court had erred by “essentially tallying up” individual discounts for Kosetatino rather than considering them in totality. The overall discount should have been reduced to take into account overlapping factors related to youth, prospect for rehabilitation and previous good character, she argued.
When considering principles such as accountability, denunciation, deterrence, the “very profound” harm to the victim and protection of the community, the judge should have come up with an end sentence of at least three years and 11 months, Hamill said.
“The discount that was given, in the Crown’s submission, was simply too much,” she said.
Judge Ryan had begun with a starting point of nine years imprisonment for the rape before uplifting the sentence to 11 years and one month to account for the robberies that Kosetatino also pleaded guilty to. She then applied 77 per cent in discounts - the highest she has ever considered, she noted - for a range of discounts including his guilty pleas, his youth, the fact he had no prior convictions and his “exemplary” efforts at rehabilitation in the months leading up to the hearing.
Defence lawyer Sacha Norrie had sought discounts totalling 110 per cent but ultimately sought home detention, the District Court judge noted.
In the High Court today, Norrie said she now believes Judge Ryan’s sentence was “appropriate, principled and it was within the appropriate range”. She submitted a new psychological report to the court determining that her client had “exceptionally low” English communication skills and he scored in the range of “low to average” when communicating in Samoan.
The discovery goes somewhat to explaining why her client appeared to give different accounts of his past and show what was described in earlier reports as a lack of insight about his offending, Norrie said. Had the report been available before sentencing, the District Court judge might have had a lower starting point, she argued.
The defence lawyer also argued that the District Court judge had adopted a “considerably different attitude and approach” in the time between Kosetatino’s sentence indication hearing and his actual sentencing. During the sentence indication, the judge suggested that home detention was a real possibility, Norrie contended.
She argued, both in the District Court last year and at the High Court today, that home detention would offer the best protection to society as it would aid the teen’s ongoing efforts at rehabilitation. The lifting of name suppression today, she added, would have “profound consequences” for the teen and serve a punitive aspect.
“He has been deterred,” she said.
Kosetatino did not appear in court for today’s hearing.
Justice Andrew opted to reserve his decision. However, the timeline for deciding the appeal might be tight, all parties agreed.
Eligibility to apply for parole generally kicks in when one-third of a sentence has been served - or about eight months in this case. When taking into account the time Kosetatino was in custody prior to his sentencing, it is likely he will be able to begin applying for parole in early June unless Justice Andrew approves the Solicitor General’s request to increase the sentence.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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