Mathew Stephens was found guilty at trial of assisting a person under 18 in providing commercial sexual services and receiving money from those services. Photo / George Heard
WARNING: This article discusses suicide and sex with a minor and may be distressing.
A man who organised sex work for a 15-year-old girl and took some of her earnings while she was addicted to drugs and desperately looking for guidance has been offered forgiveness.
“I stand here to tell you that I forgive you,” the now 20-year-old woman, who has turned her life around, told Mathew Stephens.
Stephens, 44, appeared at the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday where he was sentenced for “exploiting an extremely vulnerable” girl by organising a prostitution deal and taking $100 of the girl’s earnings.
After a jury trial at the Christchurch District Court in June this year, Stephens was found guilty of one charge of assisting persons under 18 in providing commercial sexual services and one charge of receiving earnings from commercial sexual services provided by persons under 18.
The charges relate to Stephens dropping the girl off at a motel to meet a client before taking $100 of her earnings when the job was done, between October 2016 and June 2018.
Stephens was found not guilty of another assisting and receiving charge.
The woman read her victim impact statement in court, describing feeling lost and alone, turning to prostitution to fund her drug addiction.
“You guided me to use my body for money. I looked up to you. I needed you to tell me I didn’t need to do that, and I had choices.”
The woman said she couldn’t face her own family and was crippled for years not knowing what to do with her life, looking for guidance when she met Stephens.
She has been working and living in Christchurch and for the past few years has done a lot of reflection on what her life was like.
“I am free now because of God’s grace. I am able to love and forgive myself.
“I stand here today to tell you that I forgive you Mathew Stephens.”
The woman, who has automatic name suppression, said she hoped Stephens was able to “change your heart and forgive yourself” as well.
The young woman said she won’t ever get those years of her life back but will continue with her personal growth journey, stating her “only wish” was for Stephens to do the same.
Stephens was charged under the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and repeatedly denied any involvement in the offending, claiming the woman was “vindictive and jealous” and made up the allegations to get back at him for sleeping with her friend.
During the trial, the woman said she met Stephens when she was 15 and was very “mentally fragile”.
She was also addicted to drugs, using methamphetamine, cannabis, speed, and MDMA, and was already involved in sex work.
The Crown alleged Stephens introduced himself to the woman and told her that he sorts out deals for girls wanting to make money through sex work.
He told her he was there to protect her and make her feel safe.
In an interview with the police, which was played to the court, the woman described herself as a walking body with “no soul or spirit”.
She said she was very broken, suicidal, “basically homeless” and felt like she had no genuine connections with anyone during the period she was associating with Stephens.
She was raised in a Christian household and was not aware of what the real world was like and was “probably an easy target”, she said.
She and Stephens would message each other often and see each other roughly four times a month, sometimes for sex work or to just “hang out”.
The first time they met, Stephens gave her $100, she said.
The woman also said Stephens was always quick to give her money and described him as “grooming” her, stating he would often pay her to spend time with him.
She described “inappropriate behaviour” from Stephens that she felt “obliged” to respond to, such as kissing.
The court heard how she sometimes felt uncomfortable, and Stephens would act as if the pair were a couple, on one occasion asking her for sex but later admitting it was wrong of him to ask.
She described being high and sleep-deprived most of the time they saw each other. She eventually admitted herself to a rehabilitation programme to turn her life around and in 2020, made a statement to the police.
She described Stephens as “manipulative and controlling” and having “no boundaries”.
Today, Crown prosecutor Patrick Brand said deterrence and denunciation for this type of offending was an important part of the sentencing process.
Brand stressed how vulnerable victims were in this type of offending and while the woman was “extremely vulnerable” at the time, she had gone on a “path of self-discovery” and was much stronger now.
Stephen’s lawyer Joshua Grainger said his client was assessed as having a low risk of reoffending, stating the organised prostitution happened one time and was quite a few years ago.
“Mr Stephens is someone who will hopefully remain a stranger to this court once this case is over,” Grainger told the judge.
Grainger pointed out the stigma that Stephens will have attached to him with media reporting on the case and asked the judge to consider a sentence of community detention rather than home detention.
Judge Gerard Lynch said while there would be some attention on Stephens’ case “that is simply a result of criminal offending”.
Judge Lynch turned to the woman in court and acknowledged her generosity in forgiving Stephens and her courage in sharing the impact his offending had on her.
“I wanted to acknowledge today just how impressed I was to learn how you did not wallow, rather you pulled yourself up and are a much different and improved version of yourself today.”
Judge Lynch said Stephens exploited the woman who was “extremely vulnerable” and would have seen him as a person she could trust given the significant age gap.
After giving Stephens discounts for previous good character, the judge sentenced him to three months of community detention with a curfew from 7pm to 6am daily, and 100 hours of community work.
He also ordered Stephens to pay an emotional harm payment of $1000 to the victim.
Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.