Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua man tries to use ‘sexsomnia’ as defence for raping teen girl, Court of Appeal hears

Kelly Makiha
By Kelly Makiha
Multimedia Journalist·Rotorua Daily Post·
29 Mar, 2023 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Rotorua Courthouse. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Rotorua Courthouse. Photo / Andrew Warner

A man who claims he was suffering from a rare disorder that means he has sex unknowingly while he sleeps is appealing his conviction for raping a sleeping 15-year-old girl at a party.

The Rotorua man was sentenced to seven years and eight months imprisonment but is continuing his fight to prove his innocence.

The man has appealed a decision to not allow continued name suppression and cannot be identified. He has also appealed his conviction and sentence and his arguments were heard in the Court of Appeal in Auckland yesterday. Justices Graham Lang, Mathew Downs and Mark Cooper have reserved their decision.

The man has twice been found guilty by different juries of raping the girl but his conviction was overturned on appeal after the first trial.

He was found guilty by a second jury last year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Judge Phillip Cooper sentenced the man in the Rotorua District Court on January 26. During sentencing, Judge Cooper said the man maintained his defence at both trials that he suffered from “sexsomnia” and was not aware he had raped the girl.

Sexsomnia is a kind of parasomnia that affects mostly men. It can cause people to exhibit abnormal or sexual behaviour while a person is in a deep sleep.

Judge Cooper said both juries were not convinced the man suffered from the disorder. He noted the man told the girl the next morning “you’d better not tell”, which was an implied threat designed to conceal what he had done.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Judge Cooper said even the man’s own defence witness - a sex expert - conceded during the trial that if the man had said those words, he had accepted what he had done and therefore would not have suffered from sexsomnia.

At sentencing, Judge Cooper outlined the facts saying the teenage girl was at the party and had consumed some alcohol.

The man was a guest at the party and also had been drinking.

Towards the end of the party, the teen fell asleep on a couch in the garage where the party was being held. The man also went to sleep in the garage.

At some point, the girl woke to find the man having sex with her and kissing her neck. She pushed him away, Judge Cooper said.

It was the man’s version of events that he had no recollection of what happened because he suffered from sexsomnia.

“The jury were satisfied you did know what you were doing … The next morning you said to her words to the effect ‘you’d better not tell’.”

Judge Cooper said the teen had suffered significant emotional harm since the incident, in which she lost her virginity.

“Having lost her virginity in that way, it has had a profound effect on her.”

She became involved in alcohol and drugs, stopped going to school and suffered from anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“She should not have been preyed upon for sexual gratification … Your comment that ‘you’d better not tell anyone’ was an implied threat and was designed to conceal what you had done.”

Judge Cooper said the man was now aged in his 40s, and was a father and husband. He had 17 previous convictions for a range of offences.

He noted there had been procedural delays in the case reaching a conclusion because the man had taken every appeal available to him.

“There has been no real acceptance of responsibility.”

At yesterday’s Court of Appeal hearing, lawyers Zoe Hamill appeared for the Crown and James Olsen appeared for the man.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

Rotorua Daily Post

'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave

Rotorua Daily Post

No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test
Rotorua Daily Post

'It's on in the Tron': Robertson looking forward to final test

'It’s rugby country ... you walk down the street, everyone’s so passionate.'

17 Jul 05:00 AM
'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave
Rotorua Daily Post

'It is unacceptable': Decorated NZ soldier lies in unmarked grave

17 Jul 03:00 AM
No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says
Rotorua Daily Post

No ‘alarm bells’ about Malachi before his death, daycare says

17 Jul 02:32 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP