It was little known that paedophile Lloyd McIntosh had an IQ of 60, his lawyer said after he was jailed for 18 months yesterday for assaulting a woman.
McIntosh, 30, was sentenced in Palmerston North District Court for the assault and breach of prison release conditions.
He was released from Manawatu Prison
in June, amid fears he would re-offend. He assaulted a 25-year-old intellectually handicapped woman in his bedroom on September 14, while a state-paid minder waited outside the door.
His lawyer, Fergus Steedman, said McIntosh was born with "large areas of non-functional brain", was "desperately troubled" most of his life and was borderline retarded.
"People seem to be losing sight of the fact that this is not somebody with the normal set of survival skills," Mr Steedman said yesterday.
After his release from Manawatu Prison, a media stampede meant he could not stay with his mother as planned.
After being smuggled out of prison in the back of a car, he was hidden in motels and "other places" while authorities came up with an alternative plan.
McIntosh was released from Lake Alice Hospital in 1993 after a change in mental health laws, only to re-offend within months and be sentenced to 10 years' jail.
When McIntosh appeared before the Youth Court in 1989 on a rape charge he was found to have an IQ of 50 -60 and mild-to-moderate retardation. Two psychiatrists certified him unfit to plead on the charge.
One of the psychiatrists was Syd Pugmire -- father of Lake Alice nurse and whistle-blower Neil Pugmire, who has said he would have warned officials against McIntosh's release but could not remember his name.
McIntosh knew the 1993 attack that resulted in the 10-year prison term was "awful and unforgivable", Mr Steedman said.
McIntosh listened to talkback radio after his June release, and discovered to his horror what people thought of him.
"Ever since he was four, he's had people of one sort or another interviewing him, and examining him and writing reports about him and talking about him. To him that's completely normal," he said.
"But that didn't stop him being genuinely horrified when he learnt that the rest of the world thinks he's a monster."
At age 16, McIntosh told psychiatrists he wanted to get rid of the sexual feelings that had confused him, and he wanted to have lots of money, a beautiful home with televisions, a car and a phone. He wanted his parents and grandparents to live with him and to "settle down".
He is "like any ordinary human being" in that respect, Mr Steedman said.
"I don't think you can have a realistic wish list until you know something of the world, and he knows nothing about it."
Mr Steedman said McIntosh was different from many sex offenders he had represented.
"What was unique was the awful feeling of sadness that I think anyone must experience who comes into contact with Lloyd. He has sufficient ability to know that there is something good at the end of the rainbow, but knowing, nevertheless, that it's going to be out of his reach."
Mr Steedman said neither imprisonment nor intense monitoring was the answer for McIntosh.
If a residential facility providing appropriate care and supervision could be found, that would be a good thing, he said.
- NZPA
It was little known that paedophile Lloyd McIntosh had an IQ of 60, his lawyer said after he was jailed for 18 months yesterday for assaulting a woman.
McIntosh, 30, was sentenced in Palmerston North District Court for the assault and breach of prison release conditions.
He was released from Manawatu Prison
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