Editorial: Thug should be locked up for long time

Hugh Tareha is to be sentenced to time behind bars for his horrific crimes.

It is always distressing when one hears of a crime against an elderly person, especially when there is sexual abuse involved.

The elderly deserve to be cherished and entitled to dignity and peace in their last years.

The horrific sexual assault on a 87-year-old Hastings woman last year shocked us all because of the brutality and cruelty of the offender and the crime. That someone in their later years, who was just trying to live a quiet life, could be subjected to such barbaric behaviour is a sad reflection on our society. She was getting her mail, for goodness sake.

At least the offender, who can now be named as 30-year-old Hugh Tareha, finally had some sense to plead guilty to the assault and also an unrelated sexual assault on another woman in her Parkvale home later that day.

Name suppression on Tareha was lifted in the High Court in Napier, after he admitted the four charges of unlawful sexual connection, injuring with intent, two counts of burglary, and two charges of assault with intent to case sexual violation.

One always wants to look for some signs of good in someone but unfortunately, when a person has committed such evil, it is difficult to believe they will ever be rehabilitated.

Let's just hope the sentencing judge gives him a long time to reflect on what he has done.

As for the two woman who were his victims, one can only hope that they can somehow recover from this terrible crime against them. They were courageous and strong in giving the police enough information to convict Tareha.

They deserve our respect and support.