Rapist: 'Send me back to jail'

Photo / Brett Phibbs

The rapist of a 75-year-old woman has walked into a police station waving an axe and begging to be sent back to jail.

Devo Gray Te Aho, 27, turned up at the Swansea Rd station in Hastings, carrying an axe that he refused to put down. He told police he couldn't deal with life on the outside, and that he was "under huge stress".

In 2002, then aged 19, Te Aho was jailed for 10 years, with a non-parole period of six years, for raping an elderly Dannevirke woman. He was released in October last year after serving seven years and four months' for the crime.

Police were eventually able to calm Te Aho and seize the axe, according to court summaries. And he has been granted his wish: the Parole Board has issued an interim order for his recall to prison.

Te Aho appeared in Hastings District Court and admitted one charge of possession of an offensive weapon.

His lawyer, Amit Malik, said his client had been experiencing difficulty with his mother-in-law before the offence, and had just received news his uncle had died.

Te Aho told police he had been under "huge stress" and "couldn't deal with it".

Judge Tony Adeane acknowledged Te Aho had been recalled to prison and did not impose any further sentence for the axe incident.

Canterbury University criminology professor Greg Newbold said the case was unusual. "Although it's often said convicts like being in prison, that's rarely the case - most people can't wait to get out," Newbold said.

"What is more common is that ex-prisoners sometimes find the stresses of outside life unbearable," he said. "In prison there's no bills to be paid and no problems finding food." That was why some view prison as a "form of sanctuary".

Yet the commonly held notion of prisoners becoming "institutionalised" was bandied about too readily and didn't fit the case of someone so young.

"To me, this sounds more like a cry for help, or that he's trying to convey a message that his life's been made miserable.

"It's perhaps an alternative to harming himself - or others."

The ability of a parole board to recall prisoners was crucial to the safety of society, he said.

When the Parole Board decided to release Te Aho last year, it assessed him at a moderate to low risk of reoffending sexually and at moderate risk of offending otherwise.

The Parole Board's report acknowledged Te Aho's relative immaturity but found him somewhat shallow.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Parole Board said Te Aho's recall hearing would be held within 14 to 28 days, and the board would consider all evidence and make a decision "based on the safety of the community".

If recalled, he would again be eligible for parole in 12 months.