Home detention for underage sex

Reon David Skeet was sentenced in Masterton District Court to nine months' home detention on a charge of sexual connection with a 14-year-old. FILE PHOTO

A Masterton man who had sex with an underage girl and gave her a sexually transmitted disease has been sentenced to nine months' home detention.

In Masterton District Court on Thursday, Reon David Skeet was sentenced on one charge of sexual connection with a 14-year-old, an offence which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.

Judge Chris Tuohy said the 21-year-old had "struck up an acquaintanceship" with the girl, arranged to meet her and then had sex with her at his house.

The girl later discovered she had contracted a STD, he said.

In sentencing Skeet, Judge Tuohy said he must take into account the Crown's submission that the victim was at a vulnerable age.

"She is still a very young person, not much more than a child."

In Skeet's favour was his guilty plea, and the fact that he was "relatively young" himself, meaning there was not a large disparity in age, Judge Tuohy said.

He also took into account that Skeet had no previous convictions of that type.

He sentenced Skeet to nine months' home detention and issued him with a warning under the "three strikes law".