“You are a monster, you are a gutless excuse for a man,” the girl’s father said as Hart hung his head and wept quietly in the dock.
Hart, 47, was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today to nine years in prison to be served cumulatively on two sets of sexual offending involving two victims in separate areas of the country.
He won’t be allowed out for at least four-and-a-half years.
The victim of the first set of offences, which included unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault of a female over 16 which occurred in in 2021, was also in court.
The now 19-year-old bravely confronted Hart and told him how strange it was that after the first time he had sexually violated her, and then apologised, she felt it was she who had to comfort him.
“When he began crying after sexually assaulting me, I felt uncomfortable because I felt I had to comfort him,” she wrote in her victim impact statement which she read to the court.
The pair knew each other through a mutual acquaintance, and the offending happened at a transport worksite where Hart was employed, and in a location where the victim felt “trapped”.
His claim it was “consensual” was described as “preposterous” by Judge Tony Zohrab, given the age difference.
“You were 44, she was 16. There is no way she was considering any prospective sexual relationship.”
Judge Zohrab said the offending involved a degree of planning in that after he arranged to meet the victim to apologise after the initial offence, he then offended again in a “horrible fashion”.
The victim said she was able to move on but would never fully recover.
Hart was sentenced to a total of four-and-a-half years in prison for these offences.
‘You destroyed her safe life’
The parents of the next victim, spoke of their grief, their anger and their suffering over what had happened to their daughter.
Hart was sentenced to a further four-and-a-half years in prison for charges he admitted of sexual violation, representative charges of indecent assault of a female over 16, attempted sexual violation and performing an indecent act on a dependent person.
He indecently assaulted the teen and sexually violated her on “numerous occasions” between September 1 and October 18 last year.
On September 20 he tried again, which led to the charge of attempted sexual violation, and then masturbated in front of her and told the victim to watch as he did.
On another occasion, he told her to get down on her knees as he exposed himself and when she turned away, Hart ignored her pleas to stop what he was doing and held his hand over the victim’s eyes.
The victim’s mother who sensed something was wrong confronted Hart. The following day he told his counsellor, who then called the police.
The victim’s mother said her daughter was so innocent she couldn’t say in words what had happened, but that she had “cried so much” that day.
“She couldn’t even tell me what you had done but explained through her actions.
‘You destroyed her safe life - you took it all away.”
The victim’s mother said the failure she felt as a parent was “the worst feeling in the world”.
‘This is very serious offending’
Crown prosecutor Jeremy Cameron said Hart presented as a sexual predator who was resistant to earlier rehabilitation efforts and was undeserving of the trust afforded to him.
He acknowledged the case presented as difficult in terms of sentencing, but the scale of offending and breach of trust involved could not be over-stated.
Defence lawyer Steven Zindel said Hart didn’t dispute what had happened, and knew he had “messed up”.
Judge Zohrab questioned if that was correct.
“This is not mucking up - this is very serious offending.”
Neither was he sure if Hart, who he described as a “predatory older male” understood the impact on his victims.
“You seem to be able to focus on the predicament you find yourself in as opposed to the impact on the victims,” Judge Zohrab said.
He described the consequences on the victims as catastrophic, especially for his second victim who he treated as “almost not human but something to play with”, and who was unable to protect herself.
Hart avoided a longer prison term by the credit he was given for his guilty pleas, but there was no scope for any further allowance, Judge Zohrab said.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
