Couple jailed for attacks

A man and his wife who raped and beat their adopted daughter over nine years were jailed yesterday.

In the High Court at Auckland, Justice Laurenson sentenced Iosua Chankee, aged 55, a butcher, of Papatoetoe, to 14 years in jail, saying his behaviour was "beyond comprehension in terms of normal human behaviour."

Justice Laurenson sentenced Avemaoe Chankee, 59, to eight years on seven convictions, including rape, assault with intent to injure, assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The judge said her most serious offence was procuring a miscarriage by stamping on the girl.

That the action was carried out by a woman on a child in her care beggared belief, he said.

Iosua Chankee pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including rapes between 1990 and this year, two charges of assault and one charge of assault with intent to injure.

He was found guilty of indecently assaulting the girl's younger sister.

Justice Laurenson said the couple adopted the girl from relatives in Samoa when she was 13. The offending occurred regularly until April this year, when the now 22-year-old escaped the household.

He said Iosua Chankee had blighted the girl's most precious period of development.

In the final incident, Chankee had sought to demean his daughter's womanhood by not only beating her face, but cutting off her hair and shaving her eyebrows.

Avemaoe Chankee had condoned and assisted her husband's actions for six years in the hope of preserving the home at whatever cost.

"I have come to the conclusion you are a very hard, determined person, and as manipulative and selfish as your husband," he said.

Justice Laurenson said Iosua Chankee had claimed the right to have sexual relations with the girl.

If that was the case and a reflection of his cultural background, it was abhorrent to the public of this country.

The same could be said of the beatings that Chankee had referred to as punishment.