'I was a child!':Woman thanks jury as 82-year-old convicted paedophile jailed

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"I would like to thank the jury, the judge and the court for removing a paedophile from our community that everyone should be protected from.” Those were the words from a young woman as her 82-year-old step-grandfather was jailed this week for historical sex offending against her.

The man, who for legal reasons can’t be named, could face nearly a decade in prison if he continues to deny the offending.

Judge Warren Cathcart imposed a prison term of nine-and-a-half years when he sentenced him in Gisborne District Court on Tuesday.

While the man can’t be publicly identified, his name will be added to a national register of child sex offenders.

He will be eligible for parole after serving a third of the sentence but is unlikely to be granted it on a first attempt if he continues to maintain his innocence as he will not have completed required risk intervention and rehabilitation programmes.

He was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of 14 charges —  rape, 10 counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection – digital and oral, two counts of doing an indecent act on a child under 12 years of age and doing an indecent act on a child under-16.

Now in her early 20s, the victim was aged just seven when the man — then in his 60s and 70s —  began his crimes against her.

They happened during six incidents over eight years when she was staying with her grandparents, and culminated in the man plying her with alcohol and raping her when she was 15 or 16.

The offending had destroyed her relationship with her grandmother who didn’t believe the claims against her husband, gave evidence for him at trial and was present to support him at sentencing.

In a victim impact statement praised by the judge as being the most eloquent he had heard in his eight years on the bench, the young woman said that because of the offending she “had learnt things at that young age I shouldn’t have known”.

She had also since learned she was a “survivor” and “in spite of everything, I’m still surviving”.

“Surviving has been a process of healing that I shouldn’t have been made to heal in the first place.”

She had lost the time she spent wondering if she had done something wrong — time she would never get back, the woman said.

It caused her to stay away from people she loved, to isolate herself and not to trust men or people.

“It caused me to question my understanding of everything around me and placed fear in my heart that cannot be removed.

“Your offending affected my mind, my wairua, which affected everything around me — the time I could have spent being happy and flourishing but I wasn’t — why?

“Every day since your offending started caused me suicidal thoughts, made me want to die — why?

“But I don’t let these thoughts consume me. It was a burden placed on me that I should not have to carry.

“I lost a sense of self-worth, which I keep fighting for every day. Every day after the abuse has been a fight but I say every day I will make better.”

She couldn’t help but wonder if the offending was the reason for the internal issues and scarring that had caused her infertility.

Since the verdicts, things had still been difficult for her and she had struggled. She appreciated all the people who were helping her.

She wanted “the media and the readers” to focus on the fact that all the accounts they had heard, happened to a child . . . “I was a child.”

She thanked the jury for listening and focusing on the evidence.

“I’m truly grateful for them giving up their time to hear my story. I wish I didn’t have to fight so hard for the truth to come out and for them (jurors) to also have to go through that. It must have been traumatising for everyone to hear these things.”

She wanted other survivors to talk about their experiences because “there were people here who will care and will listen”.

“I encourage everyone to listen to their kids.”

Judge Cathcart said the jury’s wide-ranging findings of guilt indicated they believed the victim, including her claim that her grandmother once walked in when her grandfather was performing oral sex on her.

The man had no prior criminal convictions and an excellent work history as supported by multiple character references supplied for the court, Judge Cathcart said.

References from the man’s two sons were “particularly impressive” and spoke of them being proud of their upbringing and their father being a helper in the community.

However, there was a “deep, dark side” to the man’s personality that only he and the victim knew about, which was not unknown in cases like this, the judge said.

“Men with unblemished records, secretly offending in this very, very, serious way unbeknown to other family members. And often it’s shocking to them as it’s completely out of character as far as they understand the personality.”

Citing submissions from Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker and counsel Nicola Graham and considering case law, the judge set a global starting point of 12½ years.

He discounted it by 21 months for the man’s previous good character and 15 months for his overall personal circumstances, especially his age.

The man was unusually fit and active for his age. Before the trial he was still working 35-hour weeks. However, prison would still be more onerous for him than someone younger, the judge said.

The man had described his upbringing in an orphanage from age three and then a boys’ home from age seven as being “pretty good — a bit hard but wonderful”.

“While you might be blinding yourself to some incidents that may’ve occurred in the orphanages I can’t resolve today, but one of your sons certainly thinks so,” the judge said.

While the victim’s “intelligent and eloquent demeanour” might disguise the impact of the offending on her, it was “profound”.

“In my view, the victim has the last word here. She is right. This is offending not when she was an adult but when she was a child,” Judge Cathcart said.

“She’s lost that innocence and she’s quite correct that this offending overall is the conduct of a paedophile.”