The Auckland man was working in the Waikato region when he met the victim.
The pair was staying at the same accommodation, and after work one day, he offered her a job.
After finishing work one day, Tepania and the victim had a few drinks outside her accommodation.
She then went inside to use the bathroom. Tepania also went inside, and the pair briefly talked about their upbringings.
Tepania then became aggressive, and the victim felt trapped, unable to leave.
He then asked to kiss her, and she said, “No”.
Tepania then raped her and fell asleep, leaving the victim unable to move. When she tried to move, Tepania woke up and raped her again.
‘He has a newfound faith’
Tepania’s counsel, Rob Weir, said his client had written a letter. It “described Mr Tepania’s thinking in relation to the matter and a thanks to all of those involved in the process and explains his new-found faith”.
“It’s not a remorse letter because Mr Tepania does not accept the judgment and the situation ... but he’s entitled to take that position.”
Crown prosecutor Kasey Dillon pushed for increases in the sentence starting point because of Tepania’s previous offending, but Weir said that wasn’t relevant as he didn’t have any sexually related convictions.
Dillon said the victim didn’t want to be in court for Tepania’s sentencing.
He suggested to Judge Kim Saunders that the offending should be broken up into two parts, one for each rape, and pushed for a nine-year jail starting point.
He added that the offending was a “substantial escalation” of Tepania’s previous offending, a lot of which related to violence against women.
‘The trauma, the flashbacks’
Judge Saunders accepted Tepania’s letter in which he said, although he denied any wrongdoing, his faith would “see you through this”.
She noted that the victim was vulnerable as she was younger and smaller than Tepania and likely expected it to be a “normal evening” of getting to know him, as she had thought she might work for him at some stage.
“There’s no part of her life that this offending has not impacted.
“[Victim] speaks in detail of how her life has changed and the trauma it has caused her.
“She feels unsafe ... and it’s the flashbacks that she finds particularly difficult.”
Having to give evidence at trial also exacerbated matters for her, the judge said.
Judge Saunders didn’t agree with Dillon that premeditation was involved “in the traditional sense”, but he knew when the victim said no to the kiss that she “didn’t want any form of sexual conduct with you and yet you persisted”.
“I have no doubt that you have taken advantage of this young woman.
“She told you about some of the struggles she’d had to face, and you took advantage of that.
“Your offending has had a very significant ongoing impact on her.
“She trusted you and abused that.”
Judge Saunders couldn’t identify any significant mitigating features, so her starting point of eight years’ jail was her end point.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.
