Repeat sex offender gets 12-year sentence

A recidivist sex offender will spend a minimum of six years behind bars.

A recidivist Hawke's Bay sex offender has been jailed for sexually abusing a young boy in three North Island towns, including Tauranga, over a two-year period.

Daniel William Peck, 55, will now serve a minimum six of the 12 years he was sentenced to in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday on multiple sexual offences against a 12-year-old over a two year period between 2012 and 2014 in Tauranga, Whanganui and New Plymouth.

Peck's earlier convictions - indecently assaulting a 7-year-old boy in 1986 and indecently assaulting a boy aged 12 to 16 in 1996 - were also revealed in court yesterday and were a contributing factor in his lengthy prison term, Justice Kit Toogood said.

Peck admitted the lesser charges of sexual grooming a child under 16 and seven charges of doing an indecent act on a boy under 16 when he was committed to trial in Rotorua earlier this year.

Justice Toogood eventually found him guilty on five charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and two charges of doing an indecent act on a person under 16.

When he convicted and remanded Peck in custody for sentencing, at the time Justice Toogood warned him that preventive detention was a possibility. However, after receiving a psychological and psychiatrist's reports he ruled that out, instead opting for a lengthy jail term with an extended supervision order and minimum non-parole period.

Peck groomed the victim by firstly texting him on a daily basis and telling him that he loved him and that he was his boyfriend.

He also sent sexual text messages which were "provocative in nature".

Peck asked the victim to delete the messages because he would be "in big trouble" if the parents found out.

Most of the messages were one-sided but in some cases Peck would persist until he received one back or he rang the boy's parents.

The offending began with Peck watching the boy undress before it grew into making the boy watch pornographic movies and then sexual acts being performed.

Peck's lawyer Eric Forster painted a lonely life of Peck.

He had been single most of his life, was of "relatively modest academic means who thinks about things simply" and despite having earlier sexual offending convictions and jail terms, he had never received any treatment, he said.

"The temptation for him has been extremely difficult to manage because of his extreme loneliness."

Mr Forster said his client's offending was not the most serious of its kind, but Justice Toogood disagreed.

He also dismissed an apology letter - delivered yesterday - as "too little, too late".

Judge Toogood said the victim had been severely affected by the offending and he still suffered nightmares and was now "understandably angry" by what happened.

The judge also said Peck put the victim through added stress by taking it to trial.

Outside court, officer in charge of the case, Tauranga police Detective Helen Beck, said given the time span between the latest and previous offending she suspected Peck's offending might be more widespread and urged any other potential victims to come forward.

Peck's name suppression was finally lifted by Justice Toogood yesterday.

Peck lived in Whanganui for the first 30 years of his life before moving to Hawke's Bay in about 1999.

Anyone with concerns should phone Ms Beck on 07 577 4300.