Kelvin John Williams at sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch. Photo / Al Williams
WARNING: This article discusses sexual abuse and may be distressing for some readers
Kelvin Williams had already spent more than 20 years behind bars and amassed more than 100 convictions when he messaged a vulnerable teen on social media.
Then, just five hours after adding each other on Snapchat, Williams picked the 15-year-old up and took her back to his place.
Now, that teen has been left angry, withdrawn and unable to cope after he sexually violated her.
The court heard today how the girl was in the care of Oranga Tamariki when the 51-year-old started chatting with her on Snapchat.
She told him she had been through the youth justice system and asked how old he was.
Williams told her he was 45 but not an “old man”. She told him she was in an Oranga Tamariki home.
They discussed meeting in person, and it was arranged for Williams to pick her up and take her to his Christchurch address.
They discussed using cannabis and methamphetamine together while Williams indicated several times that he had intentions to have sex with her.
She told him she was 15 to which he responded “s*** that’s pretty young lady” and “I feel like a dirty old man lol”.
It was May 28 last year when he picked her up in the morning and drove her to his place.
She again told him she was 15.
Once they got back to his place, he took her to his bedroom and started smoking “crack”, offering her some, which she declined.
As he began touching her, she told him “no, I just came here to hang”.
Williams started undressing the victim, ripping her dress and accidentally elbowing her in the mouth before sexually violating her.
He fell asleep for a period before waking and again sexually violating the victim.
He then forced the victim to give him oral sex before falling asleep again.
During the assault, he punched her in her side in response to her accidentally touching some wounds on his shins.
Williams admitted the outlined circumstances; however he denied any sexual connection until DNA found on the victim’s clothes matched his.
At sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch today, Crown prosecutor William Taffs said there was a persistent predatory nature to the offending.
While Williams didn’t have a history of sexual offending, he did have a violent offending history and had spent a “startling” amount of time in custody, Taffs said.
“The impact on the victim has been significant and has had lasting consequences,” Taffs said.
The court heard he had been behind bars for 22 years and had more than 100 convictions.
Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 after being found guilty of murdering Clinton Strong in Motueka on New Year’s Day 1995. Strong died after being kicked and punched during a fight over some cigarettes.
In 2017, the Court of Appeal found a miscarriage of justice had occurred and Williams should have been convicted of manslaughter and jailed for eight years.
Given the number of years since the offending and time already served in prison, a retrial was deemed neither feasible nor necessary.
In 2019, Williams was jailed again, this time for assaulting a female.
Defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Williams suffered “serious and significant” abuse while in state care as a youth.
“He was let down in a number of ways by the system.”
Bamford said the sexual offending was “one off”.
Justice Rachel Dunningham said that while there was no victim impact statement, a social worker said the victim was vulnerable on the day, and was now angry, withdrawn and unable to cope.
Justice Dunningham suppressed some details around the impact on the victim.
“There was an age difference of 36 years; you tried to minimise it.”
She sentenced Williams to two years and four months’ jail.
Williams was also added to the child sex offender register.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.