KEY POINTS:
A man has been jailed for nine and a half years for his obsessive and jealous attack on his ex-partner in which she was raped in a laundry.
A Christchurch District Court jury found the man guilty, and he was today sentenced by Judge Jane Farish who described him as "a significant risk to the community".
He has no suppression but he cannot be named because of his close relationship to the victim.
The man believed he had fathered a child by the 18-year-old woman and he attacked her after their relationship ended, demanding to know who she was sleeping with. She said it was not his child.
Judge Farish said it was now important for all parties that there be a paternity test.
"If you are not the father, there is no reason for you to have any continuing contact with this young woman or her family," she told the man.
The man was convicted of assaulting the woman, threatening to kill her, raping her, breaching a protection order, and stealing her cellphone.
Judge Farish said he was obsessed and jealous after the break-up and the rape was the ultimate exercise of power over her.
"You were indicating she was still yours and you would do what you wanted to her."
Defence counsel Tony Garrett acknowledged that comments in the man's pre-sentence report were worrying. He had ensured that the man had read the victim impact statements, the probation report and the Crown submissions for sentencing.
The attack took place in the inner city apartment block where the woman lived, on March 11 last year. The man lay in wait for her, grabbed her by the waist and hair, and dragged her into a laundry. Neighbours, including her new partner who was upstairs, heard her shouting and screaming during the attack.
The man took one of her cellphones as he left, and texted her afterwards. He also sent a series of texts on her phone to other people, about who she was sleeping with and how he believed he was the father of her child.
The woman had been badly affected by the incident. She felt lost and was "walking around feeling dead". The court was told she had attempted to commit suicide before having to give evidence in the trial.
Judge Farish said the pre-sentence report showed the man had no empathy towards the victim. He had served a jail term for robbery in 2006 but had breached his release conditions.
"At the time of this offending, your life and lifestyle were somewhat spiralling out of control."
She imposed concurrent sentences totalling nine-and-a-half years, with a minimum non-parole term of five years.
She hoped he would do psychological programmes in prison so that he could live in a more productive manner and not be a risk when he was released.
- NZPA
