A young man who pressured an underage girl to performing a sex act on him, went on to film his friend having sex with the girl in the backseat of a car.
CJ Sampiano went with the girl to various locations, including Hamilton Lake, where they would smoke cannabis and the sex acts would take place.
The first incident - involving just Sampiano and the girl - happened in October, last year.
Sampiano, who was 19 at the time, asked her to perform a sex act on him. But when she said no, he persisted until she said yes.
He then recorded the act on his phone.
On the second occasion, he picked her up from a friend’s house and she asked him to take her home, but she was instead taken somewhere else.
It was then that Sampiano’s friend had sex with the girl in the backseat of the car while Sampiano filmed them on his phone.
He encouraged his mate, saying “get into it” and “that’s my boy”.
A couple of days later, Sampiano headed to the lake with the girl and a friend. They all smoked cannabis together.
Again, the girl had sex with Sampiano’s friend while he filmed the act and cheered him on.
On March 30, police executed a search warrant and seized Sampiano’s phone, which still had the videos on it.
Sampiano, now 20, was charged with three counts of sexual connection with a young person, to which he pleaded guilty.
During his recent sentencing in Hamilton District Court, the girl expressed through her victim impact statement how difficult and frustrating the sexual incidents had been for her.
She said she felt “uncomfortable, nervous and scared” about talking about it.
Defence lawyer Rob Weir said his client was living in a pro-social home with his mother and had provided a good reference from his employer, who knew Sampiano was being sentenced but didn’t know exactly what for, and was keen to keep him employed.
Weir said Sampiano would make an emotional harm payment to the girl, and while a letter of remorse he had written may have been brief, Weir said it was “real”.
“He’s very remorseful and sincerely sorry for his actions and that [they’ve] caused anguish and heartache for the victim.”
Crown prosecutor Laurie McMaster labelled Sampiano’s actions as “deplorable and degrading at the highest level”.
She noted the offending was preceded by the girl declining to participate in any sexual activity - however, he continued to persist, ultimately until she agreed.
“This was not offending that was entirely engaged in without some pressure [being] put on the victim.”
McMaster accepted he pleaded guilty early and was young at the time, but the fact they had all smoked cannabis beforehand was not a mitigating factor, she said.
She took issue with Weir’s submissions that it was opportunistic offending involving a “youthful momentary lapse” in behaviour, pointing out the videos were still on his phone when police raided his house in March this year.
That should also limit any discount for remorse, she added.
While the girl, who was in court with her mother, did not want to accept a reparation payment from Sampiano as she felt it would be “tainted” and would help him get a more lenient sentence, Judge Stephen Clark told her it was one tangible way in which “something can be done to right the wrong”.
He suggested it could go towards her ongoing counselling.
A pre-sentence report provided to the court stated Sampiano felt a “great sense of shame and guilt” about what he had done.
But while he said he did not have a positive male role model in his life, Judge Clark noted references to a stepfather.
After taking a starting point of three years’ imprisonment, the judge reduced the sentence by 45 per cent for various factors such as Sampiano’s guilty plea, youth, and previous good character.
The end sentence of 19 months’ imprisonment was then converted to 10 months’ home detention.
Judge Clark also issued 12 months of special post-release conditions and ordered he pay $5000 in emotional harm reparation.
Sampiano has committed to completing a programme designed for sex offenders.
Another person is facing charges related to the incidents with the girl.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.