He was sentenced last month on three charges of indecent assault, the first two of which occurred in January and March 2020 and the third, while he was on bail, in October 2022. He was found not guilty on five other charges involving three complainants and was discharged on those matters.
The first two victims, both in their 20s, checked into a backpacker hostel in central Blenheim in 2020 where Pino-Bustos was living and helping his partner at the time to run.
The women said he was friendly and made them feel welcome after arriving in New Zealand on a working holiday.
The first victim had been in town with friends until the early hours of January 25, 2020.
She returned to the hostel with a friend who complained of a sore back and was given a massage, after which Pino-Bustos offered to massage the victim. She understood him to be a physiotherapist or had qualifications of that nature and was, therefore, able to carry out the massage in an appropriate fashion.
However, the woman was indecently assaulted while lying on her back behind a sofa in a room of the backpackers, having twice told Pino-Bustos that what he was doing was wrong.
She was able to get up and move into the kitchen area, feeling very upset.
The second victim arrived at the hostel a couple of months later.
She also said in evidence that Pino-Bustos was “friendly” and recalled him talking about having learned a new massage technique on YouTube. She had a back issue and agreed to what she thought would be a normal massage, over her clothes, before he eventually groped and indecently assaulted her.
In shock, the victim left, noting that his partner at the time was moving around the room but that did not deter him.
“It appears, Mr Pino-Bustos, you were most persistent about what you were doing,” Judge Garry Barkle said in sentencing him.
He was arrested and charged.
‘Mortified and shocked’
While awaiting trial, he went on to indecently assault the woman whose home he had been staying at since January 2022.
On a Sunday afternoon in October 2022, the woman was gardening and strained her back, when Pino-Bustos offered her a massage.
He had repeatedly told her while living there that he had worked as a physiotherapist in Chile.
“She was firm in her belief that she understood you were qualified to give her appropriate treatment on her back,” Judge Barkle said.
About 20 minutes into the massage, in which time the woman was said to have felt comfortable, she was then indecently assaulted, which caused her to jump up, “mortified and shocked”.
Judge Barkle said there was a “level of premeditation” with regard to Pino-Bustos’ conduct.
“You held yourself out, as I say, as certainly someone who was capable of delivering a massage of a therapeutic type for each victim to remedy back or other complaints they had.”
He added his conduct had had a significant impact, psychologically and emotionally on all three women.
“It should not be underestimated by you, Mr Pino-Bustos, what this form of violation does as far as victims are concerned,” Judge Barkle said.
“What has happened will resonate with them for a considerable number of years if not their lifetimes.”
Judge Barkle said any claim of remorse by him “held no water” because of his continued denial of what had occurred.
He added that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment had confirmed in a report that Pino-Bustos would be deported following his sentence, which was not the outcome he wanted.
Crown prosecutor Mark O’Donaghue said the conduct warranted two and a half years’ imprisonment.
Defence lawyer Marcus Zintl submitted an endpoint sentence of six months’ community detention coupled with supervision.
However, that was considered too lenient and an address in Nelson was found where Pino-Bustos is serving a sentence of 10 months’ home detention, after which he will be sent back to Chile.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
