“The young persons brandished the knives at the complainants and threatened them, telling them not to move or they would be stabbed and telling them to get on the ground,” court documents state.
The defendant groped the woman while searching for items to steal, then “immediately took [the victim] by the arm and walked her to a nearby bush, directing her movements at knifepoint”. He threatened again to stab her if she didn’t do as instructed, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case.
“She was very much alone in a bush in the darkness with no one there to help her,” the judge noted today as she recounted the “appalling offending”. “It was terrifying for her.”
When the traumatised rape victim returned with the defendant from the bushes several minutes later, she tried to negotiate a bank transfer in exchange for the safe release of her and her boyfriend. When her partner tried to talk to her, the defendant stepped in and placed his knife to the young man’s throat.
“Shut the f*** up or I’ll kill you,” he warned.
Both teens eventually ran off but were arrested several hours later.
The defendant admitted to police he had robbed the couple but denied the rape. He eventually pleaded guilty to both charges, however, after a sentencing indication hearing earlier this year.
Before sentencing the defendant today to two years, two months and one week of imprisonment, Auckland District Court Judge Claire Ryan noted that her decision would likely be appealed - if not by the defence for being too heavy-handed then by the Crown for being too light.
Rape carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment, and she had begun with a starting point of nine years’ imprisonment before uplifting the sentence to 11 years and one month to account for the robberies that he also pleaded guilty to. She then applied 77 per cent in discounts - the highest she has ever considered, she noted - for a range of discounts including his guilty pleas, his youth, the fact he had no prior convictions and his “exemplary” efforts at rehabilitation over the past 10 months.
But defence lawyer Sacha Norrie had asked for discounts totalling 110 per cent, arguing that home detention would offer the best protection to society as it would aid his ongoing efforts at rehabilitation.
Crown prosecutor Sam Teppett sought a prison sentence, arguing that too high a discount would send the wrong message and noting that a previous attempt at rehabilitation by the defendant had been unsuccessful. He had previously been enrolled at Safe - a harmful sexual behaviour intervention programme for young people - before committing the current offence.
Judge Ryan also considered discounts for his background and for remorse but ultimately decided against both. While having said he was sorry for what he’d done, his apology appeared superficial, a psychological report noted. He blamed his behaviour that night on his girlfriend at the time having cheated on him and on having got blackout drunk as a result. He claimed not to remember the rape at all but later gave answers suggesting that was not true, the judge said.
Two separate reports assessed him as having a higher-than-average risk of sexual recidivism, while one report described him as having “a general hostility towards women”.
As for his supposedly traumatic childhood, the defendant gave so many conflicting versions to different report writers it was impossible to distinguish the truth from fantasy, the judge said.
The sentencing and name suppression hearings lasted about four hours, stretched over two days this week.
During an emotional victim impact statement earlier this week, the woman who was raped said her birthday has gone from a day of anticipation to “a day I hate and fear”.
“This has destroyed me,” she said. “The worst part for me is the nightmares. I wake up drenched in sweat every night.”
She said a two-year prison sentence would be too easy, describing such an outcome as a reason why some rape victims don’t trust the system enough to report such crimes.
“I’ve endured more pain than you can imagine,” she said, urging the judge to reject home detention and name suppression so that other women are safe. “Please do not let this continue. Please stop it here.”
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the United States and New Zealand.
