David McQuoid appears in Auckland District Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to the historical sexual abuse of two young girls. Photo / Craig Kapitan
On two occasions in the mid-1980s and 1990s, young girls made outcries identifying David Selwyn McQuoid as a sexual predator.
One girl went to the police. The other wasn’t yet ready. But for decades, neither knew about the other. And neither saw justice served until today.
McQuoid, now 57 and living in Waikato, was told from the outset that prison was inevitable as he appeared in Auckland District Court for sentencing after having pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual abuse between 1984 and 1994, when he was between the ages of 16 and 26 years old.
His victims were 4 and 5 years old when the abuse began.
“The trauma echoed through my life like an aftershock,” a woman identified in court documents as “Complainant B” said today as she faced him in court. “I feel broken, like I was damaged beyond repair.”
However, through the “excruciating but empowering” process of holding him to account, she now considers herself a survivor, she told him.
“Accountability matters,” she said. “For 30 years I have been silenced, and it matters.”
Court documents state the first victim, referred to as “Complainant A”, was targeted repeatedly at homes in Lynfield and New Windsor for three years.
He lured her into the Lynfield home’s rumpus room the first time with the promise of playing childhood games, but he instead indecently assaulted her, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.
On another occasion, he abused her in a closet under the guise of playing hide-and-seek with her younger brother.
“The actions of Mr McQuoid were distracted by an adult calling out for them and ended again with Mr McQuoid instructing the complainant not to tell anyone what had happened, that she would get into trouble if she did, and that it was to be their secret,” court documents state.
The final time he abused her was around August 1987, when he directed her through a small door under the stairwell of the New Windsor home that led to a secluded crawl space under the house.
The girl, by then aged 6, was taken to the hospital for examination after telling her mother that her genitals were stinging and sore from “Davy”.
“Mr McQuoid was confronted by the Complainant A’s mother and stepfather, and admitted the offending to them,” court documents state. “Complainant A did not formally report the abuse to the police until 2023.
“She described feeling ashamed of the abuse, but that in 2023 she felt strong enough in herself to report it.”
When police began looking into the historical case they realised another girl had made an outcry in 1994 “but nothing was done about it” at the time. Police reached out to see if she still wanted to lay a complaint.
McQuoid pleaded guilty shortly after learning both cases would be combined at trial.
Complainant B recalled waking up inside her New Lynn home one evening in 1994, when she was around 5 years old, to find McQuoid undressed, crouched over her and stroking her hair and face. He then began to sexually violate her but fled the room, telling her to keep it a secret, when she resisted and began to cry.
“Complainant A and Complainant B have both had sustained long-term emotional and physiological harm from this offending,” the agreed summary of facts states. “Complainant B has an ongoing claim with ACC for anxiety and depression.”
Complainant A said she also suffers ongoing anxiety and depression – as well as sleepless nights, low self-esteem and an inability to trust others – because of “his disgusting acts on me when I was just a small child”.
The justice process has been “incredibly painful and challenging”, she said, explaining that she waited so long to press charges because she feared the pain it would cause her family. Those fears were realised, she said.
“I was an innocent little girl who was a perfect target for a monster like yourself, Davy,” she said.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. My childhood can never be retrieved, which is the saddest thing of all.”
The defendant would have normally faced up to 20 years’ imprisonment for three counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and up to 10 years’ imprisonment for three counts of indecency with a girl under 12 and one count of attempted sexual violation.
However, Crown prosecutor Helen Brown acknowledged that the earliest of the offences could not result in any prison sentence because of his age at the time.
Still, she sought a starting sentence of between seven and a half and eight and a half years’ imprisonment for the charges that occurred when he was a legal adult.
She asked Judge Simon Lance to allow no more than 25% in reductions for things such as his guilty pleas, remorse, his own traumatic background and youth at the time of offending. Defence lawyer Kaleb Whyte sought reductions of 55%.
While the passage of time doesn’t decrease the gravity of the offending, time has changed who McQuoid is, Whyte argued.
“He has come to fully appreciate the devastating impact of his actions,” the defence lawyer said. “He speaks with deep remorse.”
Judge Lance settled on a starting point of seven and a half years and allowed 35% in discounts before adding two months for the defendant’s prior offences. The end result was five years’ imprisonment and an order that McQuoid be added to the sex offender registry.
He noted McQuoid had previously been convicted of indecently assaulting other children but had voluntarily engaged with a sex offender rehabilitation programme decades ago. Since completing the programme, he’s had one other conviction in 2012 with what was described as a minor sentence.
He is currently assessed as posing an average risk of further sexual offending, although the risk would increase without continued treatment, the judge said.
“There’s just no doubt this is very grave and serious offending,” the judge said of the current charges, acknowledging the victims in attendance for their bravery for having their voices finally heard.
“Thank you, your honour,” McQuoid said as he was led out of the courtroom to begin serving his sentence. “Sorry.”
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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