Earl Campbell appeared in the High Court at Napier for sentence. Photo / Ric Stevens
Earl Campbell appeared in the High Court at Napier for sentence. Photo / Ric Stevens
Earl Campbell was jailed for 15 years and eight months for kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl and the ram-raid burglary of a sports arena.
Police praised the young woman’s courage in testifying and hoped her case encourages other victims to come forward.
Campbell’s father, Ricky, was also jailed for being an accessory after the burglary.
This article describes sexual offending against a young woman, which some readers might find distressing.
A woman who was 15 years old when she was kidnapped and raped by longtime criminal Earl Campbell says she went through “two horrendous days of hell” when she was kept in a motel room by him.
Campbell appeared in the High Court at Napier on Tuesday for sentencing on a range of charges including kidnapping, raping and sexually violating the girl, and the ram-raid burglary of a sports arena.
Justice Helen Cull sent Campbell to prison for 15 years and eight months, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
“I am a survivor of two horrendous days of hell. One day, Mr Campbell you might be sorry for that,” the young woman said in a victim impact statement which was quoted in court by Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker.
The young woman was kidnapped by Campbell after he roped her into an early-morning ram raid of Napier’s Pettigrew Green Arena, in which he smashed through the doors in a van and bowled over an ATM machine before stealing it.
After driving to his father’s Hastings house to open the ATM machine, the girl was initially locked in a room by Campbell’s father, Ricky Campbell, and was later taken to a motel by Earl Campbell for two nights.
Earl Campbell, 39, was found guilty in July of burglary, and the kidnap, rape and sexual violation of the girl.
A jury trial in the High Court at Napier was told the girl disclosed Campbell’s sexual offending against her when police interviewed her in connection with the early-morning burglary 18 months after it happened.
She then testified in his 12-day trial, which ended with 11 guilty verdicts for Earl Campbell and two guilty verdicts on connected charges for his father.
The young woman, who is now an adult, has statutory name suppression. The court has been told she is a relative of a longstanding drug-dealing associate of Earl Campbell.
Her ordeal began when she was riding in a van with Campbell in the early hours of November 8, 2020. Without warning, and without her prior knowledge, he drove it through the doors of Napier’s Pettigrew Green Arena.
A still from video played to jury at the High Court in Napier. Earl Campbell was driving a van that was driven through the door of the Pettigrew Green Arena sports centre in November 2020. The van bowled over an ATM machine, which was then stolen. Photo / NZ Police
Campbell drove the van along an indoor passageway, turned it around and bowled over an ATM machine that contained $21,800.
The court was told on Tuesday that $155,000 worth of damage was done to the arena, and the ATM worth $2500 was not replaced, affecting surrounding businesses.
According to evidence in the trial, Campbell told the girl to help him lift the machine into the van, and they then drove it to his father’s home, where grinders were used to open it.
While at the 63-year-old’s property, she was locked in a room. The next day, Campbell took her to a motel and raped and sexually assaulted her despite her telling him no.
“You forced yourself upon her despite her telling you that she didn’t want to,” Justice Cull said.
Ricky Campbell was found guilty of kidnapping, by locking the girl in the room at his house, and being an accessory to the burglary in opening the ATM.
Ricky Campbell was sent to prison for one year and seven months.
Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Ricky Campbell appears in the High Court at Napier for sentencing. Photo / Ric Stevens
Outside the court, Detective Sergeant Darren Pritchard said Earl Campbell’s actions had affected a range of people, but police were “particularly pleased” to see justice done for the young woman.
“She has shown so much courage and tenacity, not only in coming forward to make a complaint, but also going through the process of testifying in court and retelling what happened to her in front of a room full of strangers,” Pritchard said.
“We hope this sentence offers her some sense of peace, and reassurance that it was worth speaking up to hold this offender to account,” he said.
“We also hope any other victims of sexual assault who might be reading this can feel they too can come forward and speak with us.
“Anyone who wants to make a complaint can be assured they will be treated with the utmost respect.”
Earl Campbell has a long criminal history, including the gunpoint robbery of an Armourguard van in 2010.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
