A babysitter who raped a girl and sexually violated her sister in Whakatane while on a supervision order has narrowly avoided preventive detention, despite being considered at a high risk of reoffending.
The Crown requested preventive detention, which can only be ordered by a High Court judge, for Matthew James Shirley, 26, in the High Court at Napier today.
That would mean he would be sentenced to a minimum term, and only be released there after if authorities were satisfied he no longer represented a significant risk to the public.
Shirley pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful sexual connection, rape and two charges of indecent assault for the offending against two sisters, aged 10 and 11, in April this year.
He was sentenced to nine years and two months for the rape, with a minimum term of imprisonment of six years. Terms of three years for unlawful sexual connection and 18 months for each in decent assault were concurrent.