Former 'hypocrite' abuser wins credit for turnaround

A former Marist brother, once characterised by a judge as a "wretched and self-dedicated hypocrite", has completely turned his life around, the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Justice Ted Thomas labelled Charles Robert Afeaki a hypocrite in 1994 when he sentenced him to eight years in jail for sex offences against four boys he taught in the late 1970s.

Yesterday, Justice Hugh Williams said that by no stretch of the imagination did that description apply now.

Afeaki, whose name suppression was lifted yesterday despite opposition from defence lawyer Barry Hart, was being sentenced in relation to a fifth boy he recently admitted abusing about the same time.

Justice Williams said he had to put himself in the shoes of the sentencing judge in 1994 and pass a sentence that would have been imposed if the present offending had been dealt with then.

Saying he believed there would have been a "relatively modest" increase in the eight-year term, Justice Williams sentenced Afeaki to two years' imprisonment.

But he allowed him leave to apply for home detention and deferred sentencing until the parole board had considered his case.

The judge said the circumstances today were in stark contrast to 1994.

Afeaki defended the charges then, went to the Court of Appeal on pre-trial matters, gave evidence denying abusing the boys and appealed against his conviction.

Justice Williams accepted Mr Hart's submission that since Afeaki's release from jail in 1998 after serving five years, he had made significant efforts to ensure that he did not re-offend and to re-establish himself in the community.

He refrained from going anywhere where there might be young men, partly to "atone" for his past offending.

Justice Williams said it was significant that Afeaki recognised the damage he had done to his victim by his guilty plea and by apologising to the now 35-year-old and his supporters the last time he appeared in court.

The judge lifted name suppression on Afeaki but suppressed the name of his employer.