Justin Perry who also goes by the first name Turanga. Photo / Supplied
Warning: This story discusses issues of sexual abuse and may be distressing
A Hamilton teen who raped and violated four young women - mostly as they slept - has been sent to prison.
However, the judge who sentenced him said while his offending was “completely unacceptable” - Justin Turanga David Bruce Perry “is not a bad person” - rather, a youth who had made “terrible decisions”.
Judge Tini Clark said Perry’s offending was serious and harmful, - but reduced his initial prison term by 60 months on account of his youth, prospect of rehabilitation and “late” remorse.
Perry denied 17 charges related to the sexual assaults of four teenage girls.
After a judge-alone trial earlier this year he was found guilty of one charge of rape, seven counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, five of sexual conduct with a young person under 16, two of indecent assault and one of sexual conduct with a young person.
He was acquitted on a further charge of indecent assault.
Perry was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court by Judge Tini Clark this afternoon.
Judge Clark outlined Perry’s offending in detail.
The Herald will not publish the graphic details of the rape and violations.
The first victim was just 12 when Perry, described as “a trusted friend” violated her for the first time while she was sleeping at her father’s house.
He assaulted her again while she slept in her bedroom at her mother’s house during her brother’s 17th birthday party.
Another time he picked the girl up from her bed and carried her to another location where he raped her.
For a long time she did not tell anyone - worried she would be blamed or not believed.
“I told someone what was happening because I wanted it to stop,” she said.
“It has taken years to get to this point.”
The second girl was in bed when Perry, who “was clearly affected by excessive alcohol consumption” got in with her and touched her inappropriately.
The third girl was assaulted repeatedly while at her friend’s party.
It began when she was sitting in the lounge with others and Perry “reached over and touched her genital area… without any warning”.
He then violated her.
“She pushed his hands away but he carried on and she didn’t know what to do,” Judge Clark explained.
“He also tried to kiss her and he kept going with what he was doing.”
Later, he forced the girl to perform a sexual act on him.
“She said that she could not breathe that she was struggling and that Mr Perry was rough and aggressive,” the court heard.
The girl then went to go to sleep on her friend’s bedroom floor.
She woke to find Perry lying beside her violating her again.
She was “confused, shaky and scared” and “didn’t know how long he had been there for”.
“(She) said that both herself and Mr Perry went into a room where Mr Perry then tried to have sex with her, but she was nervous and shaking didn’t want to have sex, Judge Clark said.
“And essentially, although Mr Perry tried to have sex with her, (he could not). She described crying … She was in some pain after these events occurred and felt dirty.”
Perry was in a “fledgling relationship” with the fourth victim.
She spent the day with him and they went to her bedroom where she said there was consensual activity.
Perry suggested they go further but the girl did not want to.
“(She) woke to find Mr Perry (performing a sexual act) - which was not something she had expected or agreed to,” said Judge Clark.
He also touched her genitals over her clothing and violated her in another way.
She reacted by saying “what the f*** are you doing?”.
Impact statements from two of Perry’s victims were read in court today.
“I don’t know what my life would have been like if this didn’t happen,” the first teen said.
“I have issues sleeping. I feel anxious when I am sleeping because that is when it happened. Sleep is when we are the most vulnerable, and It feels like you preyed on this.”
The teen said after Perry violated her she felt “scared around men” and had trust issues.
She was often “in bed for days” struggling to cope with what happened.
“Many times I don’t feel clean,” she said.
“I have spent a long time in the shower trying to wash myself. But I haven’t been able to get that feeling of cleanliness back.”
She said the investigation and court process had been gruelling.
“I had to sit through being questioned by older men … about my body and what happened to it … all because of you and your selfish actions,” she said.
“It hurt me to know there have been other girls. Your actions have had so much more impact than you can probably comprehend.
“You’re going to get your sentence today - but you’ve already given us ours.”
The second victim spoke of the “profound and lasting impact” of Perry’s actions.
“I have suffered immense emotional, psychological and physical suffering. I’ve grappled with severe anxiety, a feeling of constant sense of shame and violation,” she said.
She blamed herself for Perry’s actions and lost friends who did not believe her when she came forward about the abuse.
“Learning I was not alone weeks later… after everything had fallen apart due to Justin’s actions was just as heart-wrenching,” she said.
“Initially I was hesitant to come forward … but I felt compelled to support another victim upon learning her age. I just wanted justice more for her than for myself and to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
“I struggled to comprehend why you felt the need to force yourself on to me and the others. You’re an attractive guy who didn’t need to go about things the way you did to get your way.”
She wanted Perry to serve time in prison.
“Not because I want you to suffer in the cell, but because I genuinely want you to sit and reflect on your actions and to get the help you need,” she said.
“No one should have to endure the trauma of sexual assault and holding perpetrators accountable is essential for the healing and safety of others everywhere.”
The mother of one of the girls also spoke in court.
“This has nearly broken me and sent me over the edge,” she said.
“As parents one of our jobs is to keep children safe. I have such immense feelings of guilt for letting a monster into my home who repeatedly violated my daughter.
“She has been extremely brave and courageous. She wanted justice and consequences for repeated sexual assaults but also she didn’t want this happening to other girls.
“She was such a happy confident young girl but this has impacted her … Taken a huge toll on her.”
The woman said her child spirals into depression to the point she cannot get out of bed or leave her room.
“This breaks my heart and tears me up to see her like this. It makes me feel so helpless,” she said.
“I just want to take away her pain, the pain you have caused.”
She said Perry was “a sexual predator”.
Perry’s lawyer told the court that over the last three months, he had been engaging in a rehabilitation programme for sexual offenders.
He provided the court with letters of apology from Perry to each of his victims.
Crown prosecutor Kasey Dillon told the court Perry’s offending was premeditated.
“He repeatedly offending whilst the victims were asleep - and they awoke to that offending,” he said.
“The fact it happened on a repeated basis shows that those victims had increased level of vulnerability. Over and above their age - more importantly - they were asleep.
“They could not protect themselves … he would not take no for an answer.”
Judge Clark said Perry’s “brief one-page letters” to his victims came “at the 11th hour” and did not establish any significant remorse.
She said he “certainly had a predisposition to behave in a certain way” but did not find the offending was highly planned.
“Being predisposed to take an opportunity that arises is different from planning to do something,” she said.
Judge Clark said during the trial some of the victims recalled “being confused about what was happening to them, both perhaps blaming themselves to an extent for what had occurred”.
“It is very important for all of the victims in this matter to understand that they are not to blame for Mr Perry’s decisions and his actions as those affected each of them,” she said.
“(One victim) ... in particular was trying almost immediately to minimise what had happened to blame herself for perhaps leading Mr Perry on.
“It is unfortunate (they) found themselves in that they were busily analysing their own behaviour to see if they had somehow bought these events on themselves. I certainly don’t consider that that was the case.”
Judge Clark said she had listened “very carefully” to the victim impact statements.
“I fully understand and acknowledge the fear and anxiety and life-changing effects of this behaviour on each of them,” she said.
“My determination at the conclusion of the trial was that I accepted each of the victims as credible and reliable.”
A number of letters of support for Perry were provided to the court - mainly from his parents and wider family.
Judge Clark had also considered those.
“The clear message I got from the letters of support is that Mr Perry is loved and he is supported, irrespective of the position that he currently finds himself in,” she said.
“They are not in any way suggesting that he should be excused. These are not letters of support that seek to defend.”
She said Perry was also “very well thought of by employers”.
Perry had written a “brief” letter to each of the girls. They were provided to the court yesterday.
“Even though I know that the sentiments of the victim impact statements are completely justified. And even though I know that a great deal of harm has been caused by Mr Perry’s behaviour and his decisions. I have read through the letters of remorse,” said Judge Clark.
“They are brief, they are short, but I’m hoping that the victims of this offending find some value in an acknowledgement of responsibility - regardless of the fact that it has come late.”
Judge Clark explained that Perry could not be jailed or sentenced to home detention for any offending that happened before he was 18.
She could only hand down such a punishment for his offending as an adult.
“There’s no need to be concerned that for some reason Mr Perry isn’t being held accountable,” she assured.
“He is being held accountable.”
She said the situation before her was “difficult … because of the age of the people involved”.
“My own view of Mr Perry is that he is not a bad person - his behaviour towards each of the victims was completely unacceptable,” she said.
“Mr Perry will be held responsible for his actions and his behaviour. But when I read through the letters of support, I can see that there are some good characteristics and hopefully Mr Perry - for you - some qualities that you have that will assist you going forward during the course of the sentence that I will impose and beyond that, you do not need to be defined by what you did when you were aged 15 to 18.
“There is a lot of good in you. There’s a lot of potential in you. I’m certainly not writing you off and nor are the people who wrote letters of support.
“And I think it’s important for everyone to appreciate that, poor decisions can definitely be made by younger people.
“Those decisions can as here be extremely harmful, but that does not necessarily have to be the measure of the man.
“And I’m hopeful that once the sentence has been served, that the support and the goodwill for those who are, who care about and love Mr Perry will remain and help him through the next part of his life.”
The court heard that during a pre-sentence assessment, Perry said he “could not recall what had occurred” and he was “certainly not showing any level of insight or remorse at that stage”.
That meant he was categorised as “high risk” of reoffending.
In response, Judge Clark took the rare step of allowing Perry to undertake rehabilitation before sentencing.
“I appreciate that some may not have agreed with the approach that I’ve taken,” she acknowledged.
“The importance of that was to show me his level of commitment to change, which is a mitigating or positive factor that I can take into account for sentencing purposes.
“The reality is that quite apart from any sentence that I impose today, it is the change of thinking and the long term rehabilitation that will matter the most.
“It isn’t just that Mr Perry should be held accountable - what is also important is that once his sentence is completed, he does not simply go on to continue to think and act in the same way.
“So that was my rationale, whether you agree with it or not.”
She said Perry had been “very open to rehabilitation” and while there were still “issues” with his level of insight into his offending, the judge was satisfied he had made positive progress.
“The report says that Mr Perry demonstrates a willingness and a commitment to achieve positive changes in his life - however, it does say that he’s yet to fully explore the factors that have played a role in his harmful sexual behaviour.
“So some progress - but a lot more progress to come.”
After considering submissions from the Crown and defence Judge Clark set a sentence starting point for Perry of nine years in prison.
She then gave him a discount of 60 months for his age and good prospect of rehabilitation.
“I’ve already alluded to the fact that young people can make terrible decisions. That’s exactly what I think has occurred here,” she said.
“There was obviously an inclination to behave in this way to begin with, but young brains don’t act the same way or behave the same way as adult brains … and the courts are properly concerned to make sure that that aspect is taken into account.
“When given the opportunity, Mr Perry took that opportunity to try and make a change to his behaviour going forward, which as I’ve already explained is such an important part of Mr Perry being reintegrated into our community and behaving appropriately in the future.
She said his display of “remorse” was difficult to gauge.
“Mr Perry’s behaviour immediately following these events and particularly if he was confronted, was to blame the victims to suggest they were dreaming to suggest they were lying,” she said.
“I would like to think that there is still value in the remorse that has been expressed. I’ve read each of those letters and it is in my view a turning point for Mr Perry to take responsibility for what he did and I don’t undervalue that at all.
“I think it is an important part of his rehabilitation that he openly accepts that his behaviour - not only was unacceptable but has caused harm to others.
“So even though it’s not the type of remorse that I can give a great deal of weight to, it is nonetheless important.”
Judge Clark said it was important to “reiterate all of the purposes of sentencing” - deterrence, denunciation, holding Perry to account and holding him responsible.
“It is a harsh sentence for someone so young, but justifiably so in the circumstances that I’ve already outlined, she said.
“You are sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. Mr Perry … I’ve done my best to give you credit where credit was due - and to acknowledge both the difficulties arising for each of the victims and to highlight the positives that you have in relation to your character, and hopefully your potential.”
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
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