Two children suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of Sam Hanson. Photo / 123rf
Two children suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of Sam Hanson. Photo / 123rf
A sexual predator who told one of his young victims he wasn’t afraid of going to jail will now spend more than seven years behind bars.
Taranaki man Sam Hanson sexually abused one child from November 2017 until February 2021 and another from December 2018 until December 2020.
On Wednesday, the 30-year-old appeared in New Plymouth District Court for sentencing on admitted representative charges of sexual conduct with a child under the age of 12 and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
At the hearing, one of his victims spoke of how the abuse had impacted her, sharing that every day remained a struggle and she was suicidal.
She said Hanson had stripped her of her innocence and her childhood.
The other victim told Hanson she didn’t wish him any ill-will and hoped he took every opportunity available to him to better himself.
In spite of the trauma she continued to endure, the girl said she now felt a stronger person because she had survived Hanson’s abuse and “stood up” for herself.
Sam Hanson appeared in New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday. Photo / Tara Shaskey
During the sexual assaults, Hanson had told one of his victims that he was “not afraid of going to jail or killing someone”, the court was told.
This caused her to be afraid and prevented her from telling anyone what he was doing.
However, his three years and three months of sexual crimes were eventually revealed and Hanson was arrested.
Though when police gave him an opportunity to explain the offending, he denied the allegations.
It wasn’t until only weeks before Hanson was due to go to trial that he backpedalled and admitted the charges.
At sentencing, Crown prosecutor Rebekah Hicklin said the offending was deliberate and prolonged, and the victims were defenceless and vulnerable.
“The offender is responsible for effectively destroying their lives.”
She submitted a starting point of 10 years’ imprisonment should be adopted and then a 5 per cent discount could be applied for Hanson’s offer to attend restorative justice and lack of previous convictions.
But there should be no credit for remorse as he had not shown any and only a discount of 15 per cent, instead of the full 25, should be given for guilty pleas given they were late, Hicklin argued.
On the contrary, defence lawyer Kylie Pascoe submitted her client should receive 20 per cent for the pleas as the admission had spared the victims the stress of going to trial.
Pascoe, who sought a starting point of no more than eight years’ jail, argued Hanson was genuinely remorseful and that credit should also be applied for his background, which she said included his own childhood abuse.
But Judge Gregory Hikaka rejected there was any connection between Hanson’s reported abuse and his offending.
The court heard that he claimed to have been sexually abused as a child but that he did not recall any ofit. It wasn’t until he was under general anaesthetic for an operation that those “suppressed memories” were said to have materialised.
The judge also doubted Hanson’s remorse, referencing a report that contained “telling comments” made by the defendant, which included victim blaming.
Hanson, who was assessed as a high risk of reoffending, lacked insight into the seriousness of his crimes, the report stated.
He was also emotionally removed from the harm he had caused his victims.
After adopting the Crown’s starting point, Judge Hikaka acknowledged the benefit to the victims in not having to go to trial and applied a discount of 20 per cent for the guilty pleas.
