Tattoo artist Peter John Roberts has been jailed for sexually assaulting his clients. Photo / Leighton Keith
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual harm and may be upsetting.
A tattoo artist who sexually assaulted his clients while working on them blames his autism for not understanding his predatory behaviour was wrong.
Peter John Roberts, known in the industry as Shaky Pete, groped the bottoms of two women while tattooing them between January and July 2020 in Taranaki.
The 44-year-old also touched the genitals of one of the women and sexually violated the other.
On Friday, Roberts, who moved to New Zealand from the UK where he also worked as a tattoo artist, appeared in New Plymouth District Court.
He was jailed for four years and six months for the sexual assaults.
The court heard he had offered a free, private tattoo session to one of his victims and when she arrived at his studio, he was shirtless.
As he worked on the woman, he “cupped” her bottom and asked about her love life before he touched her genitals. Before she left, he asked her for a hug.
The other victim was in Roberts’ company more often and said he frequently made “weird, creepy, sexual comments” to her.
He repeatedly asked her for sex, to which she refused, and made other lewd remarks such as asking “Who is in the mood for bukkake?”
He offered to tattoo the woman for free while his studio was closed and no one else was present.
When Roberts was working on her, he grabbed her bottom, complimented her and said he “wanted to bury his face in her butt”.
The woman felt uncomfortable and immediately objected. He went on to sexually violate her.
“No, stop, don’t do that,” she ordered Roberts, who made a joke and laughed it off.
He had also touched her bottom and pulled her pants down, exposing her bottom, on other occasions.
Roberts was found guilty of charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and six of indecent assault at trial. He continues to deny the offending.
Three witnesses from the UK, who had all made complaints to police about similar offending by Roberts in 2014, 2016 and 2018, gave evidence at the trial. He has not been prosecuted in relation to their complaints.
At sentencing, defence lawyer Andrew Laurenson said his client had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the disorder was linked to his offending.
Referencing a mental health report provided to the court, Laurenson said a psychologist described Roberts practicing tattooing as a “disaster waiting to happen”.
“You have a person who doesn’t understand social cues and makes up what he thinks people are thinking,” Laurenson said.
“He believed, and still believes, that he was doing everything appropriately and cannot understand the other perspective because it’s completely foreign to him.”
Roberts had told the psychologist that he had not meant to hurt anyone and despite his best efforts to make friends, people would always find him weird.
“I’m not a monster,” he had said. “For some reason, I always say the wrong thing and people would get offended.”
Laurenson said the report concluded prison would be difficult for Roberts due to his disorder and sought a sentence of home detention.
In addition to a discount for his health, he submitted Roberts was due credit for his previous good character, which the Crown rejected due to the scale of the offending.
Prosecutor Rebekah Hicklin submitted there were no mitigating factors and sought an end sentence of four to five years imprisonment.
She argued Roberts had preyed on his victims, who were vulnerable and had trusted him, and one of the women had been groomed.
In regards to his disorder, Hicklin submitted that while the mental health report concluded ASD played a role in Roberts’ offending, it also found it had a limited effect on his culpability.
Judge Gregory Hikaka took a start point of five years’ imprisonment.
He said a presentence report had found Roberts lacked empathy, blamed his victims and showed little remorse.
It said he would be difficult to rehabilitate.
The judge said he wasn’t entitled to credit for previous good character due to the period of time the sexual assaults spanned.
However, he accepted the ASD diagnosis provided some explanation for the offending and allowed a discount of 10 per cent.
In jailing him, Judge Hikaka said Roberts had displayed manipulative and predatory behaviour and his victims were significantly impacted by him.
He took advantage of his position as a tattooist to indulge in his “determined pursuit” of sexual activity, the judge said.
SEXUAL HARM
Where to get help:
If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111. If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7: • Call 0800 044 334 • Text 4334 • Email support@safetotalk.nz • For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list. If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it’s not your fault.
He spotted the man walking and swerved onto the footpath and hit him.