A man appeared in Wellington District Court on Friday after a jury earlier found him guilty of assaulting his former partner and infant son. Photo / 123rf
A man appeared in Wellington District Court on Friday after a jury earlier found him guilty of assaulting his former partner and infant son. Photo / 123rf
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual offending which some readers may find distressing.
A man who sexually violated his ex-partner and their infant son got angry and shouted at the judge during his sentencing.
“This is f***ing bull***t, that is not what happened,” the man yelled atJudge Bruce Davidson in the Wellington District Court this afternoon.
The man, whose name is suppressed, was earlier found guilty by a jury of two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and related charges of assault on a person in a family relationship and assault on a child.
The court also heard that after his arrest, police seized the man’s phone. When it was analysed, it revealed images of extreme violence, torture, cruelty and sadism.
Judge Davidson said the images and video clips were some of the worst he’s seen, including body cam footage from the Christchurch mosque shooting and the scalping and mutilating of a man who was held captive.
The judge noted the charges were so serious he had considered referring them to the High Court for a sentence of preventive detention.
Judge Bruce Davidson described the man's offending as a wholesale breach of trust. Photo / File
Outlining the summary of facts, Judge Davidson explained the couple had been involved in a lengthy on-and-off again relationship.
He said the sexual offending occurred in mid-2023 when the man’s behaviour deteriorated after he’d taken drugs.
The woman was out when she received a video from the man showing him and their infant son on a bed surrounded by pill packets.
She returned and went to bed. After taking sleeping pills, she fell into a deep sleep, only to wake late the following morning with intense pain in her private area.
When the woman became upset, the man filmed her and forwarded the footage to family and friends. The woman fled to a neighbour’s house and the police were called.
The man barricaded himself inside the house and when police broke in they found him sitting on the bed, crying with his young son beside him.
The child was taken to hospital to join his mother, who had already been taken there by ambulance.
At the hospital, the mother and son were examined and it was determined the injuries they sustained were consistent with having been sexually violated.
The judge told the man the evidence of the sexual violation was “overwhelming”.
‘The worst type of violence’
The woman’s victim impact statement, which was read to the court, described the life-changing effect on the family after the man’s arrest.
She told the court that when the offending occurred they had already split up but he would visit the children.
“What he did to us was the worst type of violence that I have ever experienced in my life, and I have experienced a lot.”
The woman said she initially blamed herself and felt she was a bad mother. But she’d changed and she spoke of the liberating effect of no longer having the man in their lives.
Judge Davidson said the man’s criminal history spanned 23 years and he was on parole at the time of this offending.
Crown prosecutor Clara Barkle submitted that the aggravated features of the case included the vulnerability of the victims and the degree of premeditation.
Barkle suggested the nature of the offending warranted a starting point of between 16 to 18 years’ imprisonment. She also sought a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI).
The man’s lawyer, Gretel Fairbrother, suggested a starting point between 12 and 13 years and opposed an MPI.
While the Crown submitted there were no mitigating factors, the judge identified one – a link between the offending and the man’s upbringing, which the court heard was marred by sexual abuse, multiple schools and housing instability.
Judge Davidson jailed the man for 15 years and imposed an MPI of 10 years.
On the 12 charges of possessing objectionable publications, to which the man pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to nine months’ jail to be served concurrently.
He also imposed a protection order for both victims.
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.
