By ELIZABETH BINNING
The Tongan community has rallied around a convicted sex offender who was yesterday discharged without conviction for parole violations just days after he was released from prison.
Mosese Kafovalu Taloa pleaded guilty to two charges in the Auckland District Court yesterday, after spending nearly a month in custody.
The 35-year-old
was sentenced to eight years and nine months' jail in 1996 for the rape of a schoolgirl in an Avondale culvert the previous year.
Last month, just before his release after serving the full term, prison officers voiced concerns that Taloa was likely to commit another violent crime.
Two days after his release, Taloa was charged with failing to report to his probation officer and changing his residential address without giving his probation officer notice.
At yesterday's hearing, public defender Mike Corry said Taloa was meant to spend his first night of freedom in a shelter for the homeless.
He instead spent the night in a park, where he was found the next morning and arrested.
Judge James O'Donovan discharged Taloa without conviction after saying the penalties for his offending were either a fine or about a month imprisonment and Taloa had already spent a month in custody.
Taloa was now being supported by members of the Tongan community, several of whom appeared in court yesterday.
