A man has been jailed after admitting a raft of sexual offending against two stepdaughters. Photo / 123RF
This article describes sexual offending and may be distressing for some readers.
A man jailed for sexually abusing his two step-daughters has failed to convince a judge that suffering his own alleged sexual abuse should justify a shorter sentence.
The 37-year-old knew he was facing a hefty jail sentence when he appeared in court on a raft of sex charges, having accepted an earlier sentencing indication of 15 years in jail.
But the question was what credit he should get for personal factors, including his claims that he himself was sexually abused as a teenager by a female cousin.
The court heard the man gave conflicting evidence to the report writers, unable to say if the alleged abuse occurred in New Zealand or overseas.
In the Wellington District Court this week, the man was jailed after admitting a total of four charges, including rape, assault on a person in a family relationship, assault with intent to commit sexual violation, and attempted sexual violation, against the two girls who, at the time, were teenagers.
He’d also pleaded guilty to a total of four representative charges of indecent assault, doing an indecent act with a young person, and two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
A representative charge means there were multiple, similar offences committed over a period of time.
The court heard the man was in a relationship with the girl’s mother.
When she left the house, he’d take advantage of her teenage daughters, finding reasons to be alone with them. If they agreed to his demands, he’d reward them with time on a cellphone, urging them not to tell anyone.
On one occasion, he ordered one of the girls to cook him some food. As she prepared it, he grabbed her around the waist, forced her to sit on his knee, and kissed her.
On another, he’d undressed himself and lay naked beside her, as she slept beside her brother on the couch. The abuse stopped only when her mother called.
Another time, he plied the girl with alcohol and attempted to rape her in her bedroom. Again, the abuse only stopped when the mother called. But he later succeeded, raping the girl in her bedroom.
Her younger sister didn’t escape his clutches and was subject to indecent assaults, having her breasts, thighs and vagina touched by him.
The court heard the offending had destroyed their tight family unit, and they now lived with their aunt.
Their victim impact statements from the pair, which were read to the court, spoke of being scared to leave the house, their fear of men, the social isolation, the flashbacks they still experienced and their struggles at school.
One spoke of feeling traumatised and numb.
“He knew what he was doing again and again, and he knew it was wrong,” she said.
In her victim impact statement, which was also read out, their aunt spoke of the harm that had been caused and how the pair had lost their innocence, their feelings of safety. Their trust in people had been eroded.
Judge Tania Warburton had to consider what personal factors should be taken into account when determining the man’s final sentence.
Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams urged the judge to exercise caution when considering the material before the court, saying that while the man appeared to accept responsibility for the offending in the psychological report, he appeared to deny it in a probation officer’s pre-sentence report.
Williams said it also appeared much of the material in the psychologist’s report was self-reported and hadn’t been corroborated by family members.
“There are significant discrepancies in his account on all sorts of things, which means we can’t rely on what he told the psychologist about his background,” he said.
But the man’s lawyer, Julia Spiers, sought to explain the discrepancies, telling the court her client was reluctant to disclose the current offending to the female probation officer, because the perpetrator of his alleged abuse was also a woman.
In relation to his own abuse, she submitted her client felt a sense of shame about what had happened, and was silenced by his family from talking about it. She said he found it difficult to talk to anyone about it.
And she explained that, given the passage of time, it was difficult to corroborate his claims.
As a result of the offending, he’d lost his family support, and his sisters were no longer returning his calls, she said.
“It’s my submission that the registered psychologist’s report should be preferred,” she said, noting that it said her client had expressed some remorse and shown genuine empathy to his victims.
But Judge Warburton wasn’t convinced.
She said the psychological report and the probation report disclosed that the man was sexually abused by a cousin; one said the abuse occurred overseas, the other, New Zealand. No other family members were interviewed.
And she pointed to other discrepancies in the man’s account, including claims he’d abstained from alcohol, when a police report suggested otherwise.
She also noted his own report of self-harm differed from what he had told the psychologist.
“I am reluctant to make any discount for you being a victim of prior sexual abuse, the evidence in this case is not sufficient to warrant a reduction, she said.
But she did agree to give him a discount for his guilty plea and a smaller discount for personal factors.
Taking the aggravating and mitigating factors into account, the judge imposed a final sentence of 10-and-a-half years’ jail.
She declined to impose a minimum period of imprisonment, which the Crown had sought, but did grant his victims protection orders.
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.