Michael Harris' offending found when victim's friend became suspicious

Michael Harris, owner of Main Street Backpackers lodge in Kaitaia has been jailed for eight years.

A Kaitaia backpackers owner who drugged and indecently assaulted male guests was only discovered when the friend of one of his victims became suspicious at his mate's lack of memory the morning after they stayed at the lodge.

Michael Harris, 58, was yesterday jailed for eight years for drugging and indecently assaulting 19 male tourists staying at his lodge between 2005 and 2014 when he was arrested.

Harris earlier pleaded guilty to 42 charges that included 12 of stupefying his victims, one of attempting to stupefy, 15 of indecent assault, seven of making an intimate visual recording, and seven of possessing an intimate visual recording.

The charges relate to 19 victims, aged between their late teens and late 20s he took advantage off at his Main Street Backpackers in Kaitaia.

The police summary of facts paints a picture of Harris regularly drugging visitors at the backpackers, rendering them unconscious. He would then photograph them, and get into bed and "spoon" or cuddle them from behind.

In the High Court at Whangarei yesterday sentencing judge Justice John Fogerty said Harris' offending only came to light when his final victim was stupefied and found Harris in his bedroom in September 2014.

The man told his mate and said he felt groggy. The mate became suspicious and stayed that night in his friend's room and saw Harris enter.
Harris then touched the victim's face, which woke him up.

The friend spoke to the victim about it the next morning and as the man had no recollection about it, the friend took him to Kaitaia Hospital where a urine test showed he had drugs in his system. The pair then went to Kaitaia police and Harris was later arrested and charged.

Defence lawyer Doug Blaikie said a starting point of 3.5f years' jail was appropriate and there was no evidence Harris carried out the offences for sexual gratification.

Mr Blaikie said this was a very unusual and complex case and Harris had no real explanation. He said Harris had difficulty communicating feelings of intimacy with people and had never had a sexual relationship with anybody.

Harris had formed a close, platonic bond with the victims and he wanted a record of them because he knew he would never see them again. He said the indecent assaults were at the low end of the scale.

Crown lawyer Bernadette O'Connor suggested a starting point of 9 to 12 years to take into account the totality of the offending, which was a gross abuse of trust.

The offending took place between 2005 and 2014 and there was a huge level of pre-meditation and planning. He chose his victims and invited them to stay in his home at the lodge in exchange for carrying out work for him. He then spiked their drinks with the sedative Temazepam.

Justice Fogerty said the offending was serious and the sentence had to be significant to reflect that.

"The sheer volume of this offending; 19 victims and 42 offences, conducted in secret, largely exacerbated by the fact he stupefied his victims with a drug is serious culpability.''

The judge said if the offending was not for sexual gratification then what was it for? He said while there was no touching of the men's genitalia or any penetration, there was a theme to Harris' offending. He fixed a starting point of 9 years' jail then gave a 12 month discount for Harris' guilty pleas and genuine remorse.

In court when Harris pleaded guilty Justice Fogerty allowed a victim to read his victim impact statement.

After the statement was read out, Harris asked if he could respond to the man directly. "I just wanted to say sorry," he said holding back tears.

On what he thought about Harris' apology, the man said: "I think he was sincere. He realises what he did was wrong."

The abuse, he said, had not put him off visiting New Zealand in the future or recommending others come here.

"When I think about it, it feels kind of gross. It's scary how easy it was for him to drug me. The fact he did it over and over to many people shows he had a plan, to an extent."