Jailed again for underage sex

A man was given his second major prison term yesterday for sexual assaults on underage girls he plied with booze or drugs.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen Erber noted at Barry Ronald Woodhouse's sentencing that the 48-year-old had already served a six-year jail term for the sexual violation of a 15-year-old girl who he had plied with drink.

He then sentenced Woodhouse to a seven-year term for an indecent assault on a girl aged under 16, who was working as a prostitute, and for supplying her with the class C drug Temazepan.

"Parliament has provided stiff penalties for persons who employ underage prostitutes in brothels. The court must act to discourage the use of them where they are free agents," said Judge Erber.

"There has been a lot of disquiet about the existence and use of underage prostitutes. I doubt it is a new phenomenon. The legalisation of prostitution has probably encouraged younger prostitutes in search of easy money."

The victim in this case was aged 14 at the time and had been working in Christchurch's Manchester St as a prostitute.

She and an older friend had gone to see Woodhouse to ask if he would buy them alcohol in exchange for sex.

A three-in-a-bed session followed, and both girls were badly affected by the combined effects of bourbon and drugs. One was treated at hospital, and the younger one ended up comatose at Woodhouse's lock-up garage, which had been fitted out like a bedroom.

The court heard that when the girl woke the next day and found she was locked inside the garage, she believed she had been anally penetrated while she was unconscious.

Defence counsel James Rapley said Woodhouse had an unstable life, and had difficulty reading. He asked for a shorter prison term than the near-maximum sentence the Crown had asked for.

Judge Erber imposed five years jail for the indecent assault - described by Crown prosecutor Deidre Orchard as "about as serious as it gets" - and a further two years for supplying the drug.

Woodhouse, a labourer, had been tried twice. The first jury could not agree on its verdicts apart from the drugs charge.

The second jury acquitted him on the sexual violation charge, but convicted him of the alternative indecent assault charge.

This left the counsel and judge to interpret the jury's verdicts as meaning they found the girl had consented to sex but they also accepted that consent could not be used as a defence in cases of indecent assault on an underage victim.

But Judge Erber said he could not accept the victim's claim that all her present problems stemmed from the offending by Woodhouse.

- NZPA