His recent sentence carried automatic registration as a child sex offender but Williams argued that made his overall sentence disproportionate to the features of the offending and his circumstances. Child sex offenders who are not imprisoned for their crimes are only added to the register at the judge’s discretion.
Williams has now served his time in jail but remains subject to eight-year reporting obligations.
His lawyer described registration as “very onerous”, and even “Orwellian”, referring to the “high level of intrusion” into all aspects of Williams’ life.
Williams’ appeals to the High Court and now the Court of Appeal to have his prison sentence reduced, to possibly a community-based sentence, have both now failed, with each court agreeing with the decision of the respective lower court.
Williams, who knew the victim, began sending her inappropriate messages after she updated her Facebook profile picture.
She ceased contact with him on social media but a few days later he approached her at work and made a comment that left her uncomfortable enough that she left and went home.
That evening, Williams sent several messages to her via Snapchat, including a series of photos of himself.
The victim was overwhelmed by the offending, had been in tears multiple times at work and talked of being “lost, upset, drained and ill”.
She was also bewildered about why Williams had focused his attention on her, and how he seemed unfazed by the impact of his actions.
Williams appealed his sentence to the High Court because he felt he should have been granted home detention, but the appeal was dismissed when the court considered that, in the circumstances, the prison sentence was well justified.
The eight-month prison term meant Williams was eligible to be considered for home detention, but Judge Tony Greig said in the District Court that would not be a sufficient deterrent or denunciation.
He said that even if registration had not been the automatic consequence of the sentence, he would still have directed it because of the risk posed by Williams.
In 2012, he was imprisoned for two and a half years after he was convicted of sexual connection with a vulnerable 14-year-old girl he was helping to oversee while she was in a respite care facility.
Williams was working there while studying for a nursing degree.
While on parole he then breached his release conditions by making contact with the complainant and was recalled to prison.
Judge Greig also referred to a comment in the pre-sentence report that the offending was attributable to a “deviant sexual interest in children”.
When his appeal in the High Court failed, Williams was granted leave to appeal his sentence to the Court of Appeal. He argued that the punitive effect of registration should have been factored into the length of the sentence and the choice between a custodial and a non-custodial sentence.
The Crown contended that registration should generally be an irrelevant consideration in all but a few exceptional cases.
Williams is now among about 3196 offenders who were listed on the register in 2022, according to official information received by the Crown concerning this case.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
