A man sentenced in the Whanganui District Court on a string of charges, including rape, was allowed to appeal against his sentence. Photo / Bevan Conley
A man sentenced in the Whanganui District Court on a string of charges, including rape, was allowed to appeal against his sentence. Photo / Bevan Conley
A man sentenced last year to nine years in prison without parole for a list of offences including what one victim described as "10 years of horrific abuse", is allowed to appeal against his sentence.
Ashleigh Crowley-Lewis was sentenced almost a year ago after admitting a list of charges including rape, intentional damage, male assaults female, unlawful sexual connection, reckless driving and breaching a protection order.
The two rape charges involved two women; one of whom was pregnant when the rape occurred and the other while she slept.
Both women suffered trauma, including one who said it was so bad it felt like her brain was injured and that she had lived in "survival mode" for 10 years not knowing what he would do next.
The other woman described nights waking up in a panic and remembering all the horrible things he had done.
Crowley-Lewis was sentenced in the Whanganui District Court last July.
In a judgment released today the Court of Appeal has quashed the sentence on the representative rape charge and replaced it with a substitute sentence of eight years and six months in prison.
One of Ashleigh Crowley-Lewis' convictions related to him causing a crash with his partner and baby in the car. Photo / 123RF
The order that Crowley-Lewis serve his sentence without parole was also quashed and replaced with a minimum period of four years and three months in prison.
The appeal was lodged on the grounds the sentence was manifestly excessive because the starting point adopted by the judge was too high, the discounts allowed were inadequate and the order that he serve his sentence without parole rendered the sentence disproportionately severe.
One of the rapes happened when one of the women was 20 weeks pregnant.
A reckless driving charge related to an accident where he was a passenger in the car driven by one of the victims. He became angry with her so he pulled on the handbrake as they entered a 100km/h zone, the car to veer across the yellow centre lines into oncoming traffic.
The woman managed to steer heavily to the left, but an oncoming vehicle collided with the rear of their car. No one was injured.
Crowley-Lewis was 28 years old when he was sentenced last year. He had previous convictions, the majority of which were for breaches of community work and driving offences.
He also has a 2009 conviction for sexual connection with a child, and aggravated robbery in 2011.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the argument put forward that the offending was more opportunistic than planned but the judge correctly identified the aggravating factors, including the vulnerability of one of the victims.
An appeal on the grounds of totality, which were at the lower end of the available range, was rejected.
The court said this was because of the number and range of incidents and their features:
• The rape displayed entitlement and disregard for one of the women;
• The two male assaults female incidents were demeaning of her;
• And the reckless driving incident displayed an alarming disregard for the safety of the other woman, a child, and other road users.
The court concluded that the judge, who at the time was without the benefit of guidance of a particular case, was not required to make an order that the appellant serve his sentence without parole.
Therefore, the appeal against the sentence was allowed.
The sentences on the other charges and the protection and disqualification orders were not altered by the Court of Appeal judgment.
