Warning: This story contains content relating to sexual offending.
As a teenager, Erin Leighton was groomed, manipulated, drugged and sexually abused by a pair of “malevolent individuals”.
As an adult, she faced the pair in court to tell them about the deep and lasting effects their actions had on her.
Shaking and crying, Leighton read a Victim Impact Statment to the offenders - Paul Bennett and a woman who cannot be named.
The pair were sentenced in the Auckland District Court this week.
“I have truly never been able to love again,” Leighton said.
She spoke of the “massive psychological wounds” that have festered and flared up across her life.
Soon after the offending emerged, Leighton said she was identified by others in her sporting community and was left out.
Throughout her life she has been “followed by a big dark cloud”.
She had served a 15-and-a-half-year sentence for what they did to her, she said, and was still paying the cost.
Leighton said she could not imagine “anything more disgusting” than grooming a child as Bennett and the woman did to her.
Bennett - a convicted fraudster - and the woman were jailed for their “completely premeditated” actions after being convicted by a jury in June.
Bennett was found guilty of three charges of committing an indecent act on a young person and three charges of supplying a Class B controlled drug, and the woman of two indecent act charges and one charge for supplying a Class B drug.
She was found not guilty on two other charges.
In the Auckland District Court this week Judge Brooke Gibson sentenced Bennett to 21 months in prison, and the woman to 16 months.
However, Gibson said earlier in the hearing their sentence would be cut down by the time they had already served.
Both will be placed on the sex offender register.
Judge Gibson said the offending was “completely premeditated” and they manipulated Leighton and her family to gain access to her.
During the trial, the jury heard how Leighton was given MDMA once at a sports event, and twice on another occasion.
In footage from her police interview, Leighton said on the second occasion she took the drug and proceeded to take a shower because she was sweaty.
When she walked out again, she said they had lit coloured candles and started suggesting “weird things” to her, including “threesomes” and saying they had a special connection with her.
On the next occasion, the teen was at Bennett’s house again and although she really didn’t want to take the pill she said he and the woman were “pushing for it”.
On the third and final occasion, the victim said she took three and a half pills and both she and the woman had a bath together and he sat on the toilet with the lid down.
After this, she said Bennett massaged her breasts, pelvic area and put his penis in between her upper thighs.
While reading her statement at sentencing this week, Leighton pointed to the pair and called them “malevolent individuals” who turned her life upside down.
She described how the once extroverted girl she had been was gone after their offending.
Leighton said she is the same age as the female defendant was when the offending occurred.
She told the court she can’t imagine “anything more disgusting” than grooming a child for a threesome.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers social issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
