A prisoner is no longer allowed to communicate with his children after he sent them "provocative" drawings from jail. Stock photo / 123rf
A prisoner is no longer allowed to communicate with his children after he sent them "provocative" drawings from jail. Stock photo / 123rf
A violent serial rapist serving an indefinite term of imprisonment has been sending his young daughters “offensive and inappropriate” drawings from jail, including of women posing provocatively, to hang on their bedroom walls.
Now, the Family Court has stepped in to decide whether the man can have further contact with the three children, who are all under the age of 13.
He sought to continue sending the girls, one of whom is not his biological daughter, letters, gifts, drawings and cards each month.
But their mother, who is one of the man’s rape victims, opposed his application, telling the court he posed a risk to the children’s psychological safety.
The man, who cannot be named, also requested to be provided with six-monthly updates regarding the health and education of the girls.
While the Family Court heard the case in May last year, Judge La-Verne King issued her reserved judgment in August.
That decision was publicly released on Friday and revealed the man had been sentenced to more than nine years of preventive detention on multiple counts of sexual violation by rape.
At the same time, concurrent sentences of 15 years’ imprisonment on multiple counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and six years’ jail for kidnapping were imposed.
While the man denied most of the charges laid against him, he was found guilty by a jury on all counts. His offending spanned more than a decade and involved three female victims, including the mother of his children.
The man went on to challenge both his convictions and sentence but later abandoned the appeal. He has not completed any rehabilitative programmes since being sentenced.
Judge King said in her decision that the woman has had to give evidence against the man in the District Court, High Court and now the Family Court.
“It is well accepted that giving evidence can retraumatise victims of family and sexual violence. It is therefore little wonder that [the woman] requests the Court conclude these long running proceedings.”
The decision stated that when the man was first incarcerated, she agreed the man could have contact with the children by way of letter writing.
But her position has now changed.
Throughout the years, artwork he also sent to them has “been offensive, inappropriate, and not child-focused,” the woman submitted.
But the man, who has a keen interest in art and has been studying the medium while in prison, told the court the art depicted well-known musicians and he had intended for it to hang on the wall in the children’s bedrooms.
Drawings provided to the court in evidence were of young adult females in “fairly provocative poses and dressed in very little”, Judge King found.
“One drawing was of [musician] Doja Cat depicted as an angel drinking from a bottle of alcohol with a burning cigarette in her right hand,” she said.
“Another drawing was of a young female with her eyes closed, head raised, kneeling with her hands placed between her legs and wearing only underwear.
“Even more concerning was [his] drawing of a young woman in a revealing singlet that had thin straps, a low neckline, was narrow through the torso area meaning much of her chest area was exposed. [He] had also shaded the area under the woman’s breasts and drawn in nipples.”
The case was heard by the Family Court last year.
Judge King said that by giving the drawings to the children, the man showed just how little insight he has about what is and is not child-appropriate.
He has also written directly to the woman, which is in breach of the protection order she has against him.
During the Family Court proceedings, one of his biological daughters expressed she did not want anything to do with the man, and so he withdrew his request for contact with respect to her.
When considering whether he should have contact with the remaining two girls, Judge King said his other biological daughter has no living memory of the man and he is neither the “psychological nor whāngai parent” of the other and that their previous bond no longer existed.
She found that their welfare and best interests weighed in favour of him not having contact.
“I am not satisfied [he] has any insight into the impacts of his violence on [the woman] and the children given he continues to deny he sexually abused [the woman] ... and has not undertaken any form of rehabilitation.
“I find that it is entirely unacceptable to require [the woman] to receive and veto [his] correspondence in circumstances where I am satisfied there is an unacceptable risk of psychological harm to the children if they receive correspondence directly from [him].”
But the decision did state that, as a guardian, the man was entitled to information regarding the health and education of his children unless the court ordered otherwise.
This did not extend to the girl who was not his biological daughter, however.
Judge King made an order that the woman is to send the man annual health and education updates in respect of his two birth daughters.
She must redact any identifying information concerning their school and GP clinic.
Before concluding the decision, the judge said the woman had suffered “far more” trauma than any person should.
She commended her strength in first applying for a protection order and then in bringing the man who subjected her to physical and sexual violence to justice.
“Finally, [she] dug deep and found the strength to oppose [his] request for contact notwithstanding the trauma that has revisited upon her over the seven years these proceedings have been alive.”
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
