She spoke of her anguish at watching the girl’s behaviour change and her social skills regressing.
“You are a sexual predator who left my daughter with life-long trauma,” she said to Gilbert through a victim impact statement read in the Christchurch District Court.
“She was exposed to things no child should go through.”
No words could ever describe the pain he has caused, the mother said.
“I will forever be here for my daughter to mend the broken pieces.”
At the hearing, Gilbert was jailed for four years and six months on representative charges, meaning the crime occurred more than once, of unlawful sexual connection and indecently assaulting a female under 12.
The court heard he had touched the young girl inappropriately and had an unlawful sexual connection with her on multiple occasions.
He has previous convictions, dating back to when he was in his 20s, for two rapes, sodomy, indecent assault and two counts of assaulting a child.
Defence lawyer Karen Chalmers said her client was “very remorseful” for his offending against the girl and was determined not to have any excuses made for him.
Despite initially claiming he could not remember the offending due to his “excessive” alcohol consumption at the time, he has since owned up to what he did.
Chalmers said he “regrets the situation he has caused, not the situation he finds himself in”.
After engaging in restorative justice, Gilbert felt “hopeful” a healing process could begin, she said.
Chalmers asked Judge Paul Kellar not to uplift Gilbert’s sentence due to his previous convictions, arguing that the offending happened a long time ago, was opportunistic and was a case of “a young man doing silly things”.
But Crown prosecutor Patrick Brand said the judge should apply an uplift as the convictions, while dated, were similar in nature.
Brand said Gilbert’s offending had caused the victim and her family “huge harm, trouble and trauma” which was evident through the victim impact statement.
Judge Paul Kellar said reports provided to the court showed Gilbert had a medium risk of re-offending, but that could increase if he did not get the treatment he needed.
The judge said initially, Gilbert did not consider how his offending could have impacted his victim, but later showed remorse for what he had done.
He gave him discounts for his guilty pleas, the “reasonably successful” restorative justice process and his addiction issues, before arriving at the end sentence of four years and six months’ imprisonment.
Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.
