He would also call her and play the videos to her, so they could both see them.
Owen’s behaviour was discovered after police seized his phone.
He had earlier admitted four charges of sexual connection with a young person, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.
‘Not just a youthful indiscretion’
Crown prosecutor Lexie Glaser asked for a sentence of 2.5 years in jail.
She said, given Owen’s age at the time, he was entitled to a discount for youth, however, she asked the judge to temper it as the offending wasn’t a case of “youthful indiscretion”.
She suggested 15%.
Owen’s counsel, Richard Barnsdale, asked for an end point of two years which would allow the judge to consider home detention, instead of jail time.
He accepted the 15% for youth, but pushed for another 15% for factors including being on strict bail.
Owen had also tried to start rehabilitation - various psychologists’ reports stated that a young person’s brain was still developing when they were 17 and 18 years old.
“He has moved on now, at the age of 22 ... he’s got a good job, he is stable, is working, and there are no signs of a continuation of these sorts of problems.”
When the judge asked him about making an emotional harm reparation payment, Barnsdale said Owen could pay $50 a week up to $5000.
But Glaser took exception to Owen getting any credit for his sentence for the money, as it wasn’t a voluntary offer.
“What we have here is a defendant who continues to dispute the offending,” she said.
“This is not a voluntary offer of responsibility and is not a voluntary offer of reparation,” she said.
The judge said that while he agreed, he still wanted the money to be available should the victim accept the payment.
However, as the judge was about to issue his sentence, he realised that he couldn’t issue Owen a sentence any heavier than community detention due to him being either 17 or 18 at the time of the offence.
Under New Zealand law, a person aged 17 can only receive a jail sentence if they are convicted of a charge carrying a minimum prison sentence of 14 years.
The judge noted the Crown was unable to prove exactly how old Owen was at the time, but he was at least 17.
Therefore, he sentenced Owen to four months’ community detention, with a 7pm to 4am curfew, 12 months’ intensive supervision, and ordered him to pay $5000 emotional harm reparation at $50 per week.
Judge Marshall also ordered Owen to complete a healthy relationships programme and not to associate or contact the victim.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.
