Man sexually assaulted woman, exposed penis in supermarket wins appeal against ESO

Warning this story contains evidence of a sexual nature which some readers may find upsetting

A man jailed for swinging his penis around in a supermarket, then masturbated on and violently attacked a woman, has not been deemed high risk enough to be put on an extended supervision order, despite exposing himself to staff while in prison at least 44 times.

However, Corey Reuben did fail in his bid for name suppression with the Court of Appeal stating they hadn’t received any expert evidence that he would meet the extreme hardship threshold.

Rueben, now aged 23, was in a Lower Hutt supermarket on Friday, November 2017 when he pulled out his penis and swung it around for two seconds in front of two female members of the public, including a young girl.

That same night, he followed, grabbed, and assaulted a woman on Allenby Tce, in central Wellington. He choked her, pushed her to the ground, knelt on her before again pulling out his penis and masturbating before ejaculating in her mouth, hair and clothing.

He then stole her wallet and cellphone.

Reuben was jailed for four years on charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, doing an indecent act in a public place, injuring with intent to injure, and theft.

While he served his time in prison between 2017 and 2021, the Department of Corrections recorded Reuben indecently exposing himself to “prison staff, nursing staff, and other health professionals at the prison 44 times.

“Corrections thought that was likely an underestimation.

“Mr Reuben explained to the District Court that it was true, it was always to female staff and ‘the main reason was boredom, but also sexual arousal or low mood, and interest in how the targeted staff member would respond’.

“He said he was sometimes laughed at, sometimes ignored, and on 16 occasions given a misconduct,” the Court of Appeal wrote.

He also claimed one of the therapists engaged in sexual behaviour with him.

Reuben was last convicted in May 2022 and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon.

However, the sentencing judge noted that if an extended supervision order was not granted, Reuben would instead be sentenced to supervision.

Before he was released from prison in November 2021, Corrections applied for an ESO for five years.

The purpose of an ESO was to protect the community from those who posed a “real and ongoing risk of committing serious sexual or violent offences”.

An interim order was granted before a further, two-year ESO granted by Judge Bruce Davidson on May 2 this year.

It’s that order that Reuben has now appealed through his counsel Seth Fraser, who submitted his client didn’t have a pattern of serious sexual offending, and the indecent exposures to prison staff were low level.

He said one serious event and a clump of low-level events did not make a pervasive pattern and his most serious conviction was now “a long time ago relative to his life to date”.

He had also had treatment since then, was older and there had been no allegations of any offending since he’d been released into the community more than a year ago.

However, Counsel Sally Carter, on behalf of Corrections, disagreed and said Reuben had shown a pervasive pattern of serious sexual offending.

The enduring and repeated nature of the incidents in a supermarket, a prison cell, and during health appointments heightened those incidents to that of serious offending where a clear pattern had emerged.

There were also repeated instances of masturbation.

The Court of Appeal judges ultimately sided with Fraser, finding he didn’t currently display “an intense drive, desire, or urge to commit a relevant sexual offence”.

His circumstances were now stable and although there was always a risk circumstances could change, the court had to assess whether he was currently at “high risk” of reoffending in order to grant the ESO.

“The Court is concerned with Mr Reuben’s current risk, not his potential future risk.

“Having regard to the limitation of rights inherent in an ESO, we do not consider that the evidence before the court supports a finding that Mr Reuben is currently at high risk of committing a relevant sexual offence.”

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.