Graham Lee Bartlett is back behind bars after multiple breaches of his extended supervision order managed by the Department of Corrections. Photo / Greg Bowker
Graham Lee Bartlett is back behind bars after multiple breaches of his extended supervision order managed by the Department of Corrections. Photo / Greg Bowker
A man who sexually offended against an infant in a shopping mall and has a history of possessing child sexual exploitation material is back behind bars following a raft of “blatant” breaches of an order in place to keep the community safe from him.
On Tuesday, Graham Lee Bartlett appeared in New Plymouth District Court for sentence on four counts of breaching an extended supervision order (ESO), managed by the Department of Corrections, and two laid by police for failing to comply with his reporting obligations as a person registered on the Child Sex Offender Register.
An ESO is imposed on high-risk sexual and violent offenders after their release from prison and regularly comes with conditions the offenders must follow.
In Bartlett’s case, he was subjected to the order after being released from prison in 2017 and it doesn’t expire until 2027.
He had been in jail for three years and six months for doing an indecent act in 2013 on a 4-month-old boy at Hamilton’s Te Awa shopping centre, and possessing objectionable material.
Bartlett was found guilty of the act in a judge-alone trial, during which a mall cleaner said she saw him naked in a changing room with the baby.
He also had earlier convictions for possessing objectionable material, namely child sexual exploitation material, in 2010.
Bartlett appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Tuesday. Photo / Tara Shaskey
Less than a year after Bartlett was released from prison in 2017, he was sent back for six months for breaching the ESO by owning an internet-capable cellphone.
He went on to breach the order a further two times before his latest four that landed him in court today.
The recent breaches were discovered last year and were for having an intimate relationship with a person who he was not allowed to associate with, further contacting that person, and two of owning an internet-capable cellphone.
The two police charges were for his failure to tell police he had a cellphone and a social media account.
Judge Lynne Harrison said Bartlett’s latest breaches were his most serious.
“You’ve gone on and you have just blatantly continued to have contact and do things that you shouldn’t be doing with your extended supervision order.”
The judge said in the lead-up to the recent breaches Bartlett was in a “very privileged position” as he was working on a farm in Taranaki and was supported by a member of the community.
“Your employment has gone as a result of this offending and the support of [his advocate] has evaporated. You’ve just proven yourself to be an absolute disappointment to him.”
Defence lawyer Jo Woodcock said her client accepted he had made some “very poor decisions” and had taken full responsibility for his breaches.
Bartlett had lost all he had achieved in the community of late, setting himself back to square one in terms of moving forward, Woodcock said.
While accepting he would be jailed, she urged the court not to impose a sentence that was “too harsh”.
“He will be paying the price for his indiscretions, he understands that.”
Judge Harrison said there were no other options but to imprison Bartlett and imposed a sentence of 10 months and two weeks.
She also handed down a raft of special conditions upon his release, including that he not travel within the boundary of Taranaki without approval from his probation officer and that he is electronically monitored.
Judge Harrison warned Bartlett that matters would get worse for him if he continued to breach the ESO.
“You’ve got time to reflect upon what you’ve been doing - the obsessive nature of your contact. It needs to come to an end.”
