KEY POINTS:
CHRISTCHURCH - The latest victim of Johnathan Smallbon's predatory sex attacks says he needs to be locked up forever to protect other young men.
The 24-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he had no doubt Smallbon would attack again if he was let back into
society.
The man is unsure when he will recover from the horrific 17 hours he was held captive by Smallbon in a central-city house over Christmas.
When Smallbon, 30, lured him to a house on the pretext of helping him to move furniture, he was unaware of Smallbon's appalling criminal record for sex crimes. Smallbon was deported from Australia only six months ago after serving jail for sex offences on two young men.
Christchurch police had been monitoring Smallbon because of the chance he could offend again.
The 24-year-old was loosely acquainted with Smallbon, who had told him he had been deported from Australia for causing a road death.
"When he got deported he should have been put in some other place away from people until he was proven to be fit for New Zealand society, which obviously he wasn't," the victim said. "I've got a lot of anger towards him - he should have been put in some sort of rehabilitation or corrections facility."
Smallbon pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the Christchurch District Court to a number of charges including holding the man against his will overnight, repeatedly sexually violating him and threatening to kill him while holding a knife to his throat.
A sentencing date has not been set, but it is likely the Crown will seek a term of preventive detention because of his offending in Australia. If given preventive detention, Smallbon will be kept in jail indefinitely.
Smallbon was sentenced to seven years in Australia for sex attacks on two young men, aged 16 and 14, in Sydney, that mirrored the crime in Christchurch over Christmas.
One of the Australian attacks occurred while he was on bail.
The 24-year-old said he would agree with a preventive detention sentence. "As long as he receives a minimum of 30 years for what he did to me."
The ordeal began when he was watching TV early evening on Saturday, December 30. Smallbon knocked on his door and asked him for help to move a fridge.
Smallbon had once told him he had been deported from Australia because of a road fatality. He said he had known Smallbon for only two months, and had probably spoken to him only four or five times during that period.
After he had helped move the fridge, Smallbon attacked. "I was leaving. I had my hand on the door and all of a sudden he grabbed me around the neck and there was a knife at my throat," he said.
"I didn't know what to think - I guess I was in shock having a 12-inch knife pressed on my throat."
Smallbon made the man lie on his bed, where he bound his hands and feet with a telephone cord.
"He said to me: 'Don't say anything. This is your life'. I was just praying he wasn't going to rape me.
"He was calm as, and whenever I did struggle he'd put the knife back at my throat."
Smallbon removed the man's shoes and jeans, and cut his underwear off him with the knife.
He then cut one of the man's socks and gagged him with it.
"I kept spitting it out and after a while he couldn't be bothered putting it back in. I kept looking for an opportunity to get away, he couldn't tie a knot to save himself, but he always had that knife in his hand."
The sexual attack continued on through the night. He would not let his victim go to the toilet, forcing him to use a measuring bowl and milk container. Smallbon also demanded money several times.
Just after seven the following morning Smallbon tried to throttle the man, holding him for several minutes until he could not breathe. His body started to jerk and spasm.
When Smallbon finally released him he sat on a chair with the knife, tormenting him.
He rolled the knife up and down the man's body, making stabbing motions and holding the tip to his throat.
At 11.45am, Smallbon got the man on to his feet and allowed him to get dressed. He made him sit in a chair, offered him a cigarette before letting him go.
Smallbon tried to befriend the 24-year-old, and started apologising.
He said he had taken party pills the night before and had been unable to control himself.
"He was crying, balling his eyes out. "I was thinking, 'I don't want to be your friend, mate - get the hell out of my life so I can go to the cops and get you locked up for this'."
After Smallbon left, the man called a friend.
"I rang my friend straight away. I needed to talk to someone I trusted. I was shaking like heck and I had to sit down for a while.
"I just sat and chainsmoked for about 20 minutes and then after I hung up from my mate I went straight to the police station."
Police found Smallbon and arrested him.
The 24-year-old did not tell his parents what had happened for two days. "I needed time to recover from it. I needed time alone to deal with it before I told them," he said.
He has now left his job in Christchurch and is living in his home town elsewhere in the South Island.
"I couldn't stay where I was. I just did what I had to and left.
"I'll never go back [to Christchurch]," he said.
- CHRISTCHURCH STAR
