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A man who admitted charges of sexually grooming a 13-year-old girl was jailed for six months in Wellington District Court today.
The Nelson man, who was 26 at the time of the offence, met the girl through his work in 2006. She was the daughter of his employer's partner.
He was granted interim name suppression by Judge Tony Zohrab, following an appeal by his lawyer, Phil Mitchell.
The girl took the man's telephone number from the staff roster and text-messaged him.
He returned her message, and the conversation soon turned from friendly to sexual, the judge said.
The man sent her a pxt-message of his naked body, urging her to reciprocate. She did, and the two messaged each other until she returned to Nelson some weeks later.
The only physical contact he had with the girl was to try and kiss her while helping carry her to bed after she had drank too much at a family barbecue.
The very-drunk girl rejected his advances, the court heard.
Their virtual tryst was discovered by the teenager's parents, after they confiscated her telephone and found photographs of the naked man saved on it.
Judge Zohrab described the girl's behaviour as "typical teenage behaviour".
"The message needs to be sent out that young girls need to be protected from older men, and at times, from themselves," he said.
Lawyer Phil Mitchell said the man was very depressed at the time of the offending, was recovering from a serious injury and had a sick mother.
The man was jailed for six months, with leave to apply for home detention. Citing humanitarian grounds, Judge Zohrab deferred the start of the prison term for two months, so the man could finish an outstanding contract to build a house.
- NZPA
