Man sentenced for molesting girl 25 years ago

File photo / Herald on Sunday

A man has been sentenced to seven months' home detention for molesting and attempting to rape a 10-year-old girl 25 years ago when he was a teenager.

The 42-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, was last year found guilty by a jury in Gisborne District Court of three counts of unlawful sexual connection with a female under 12 and one count of attempted rape.

He was 17 when he pulled the 10-year-old girl through a window of a Gisborne house when they were playing hide-and-seek.

He molested her and attempted to have intercourse but was unsuccessful, the court was told.

The woman complained to police more than two decades later because she was still distraught from the incident.

Judge Phil Gittos said it was an "extraordinary sentencing exercise", given the length of time that had passed since the incident and the man's age at the time.

"It was not an adult predator committing these crimes but a misguided boy of 17."

A restorative justice meeting held prior to sentencing had been very helpful and given the woman a sense of closure.

The man displayed genuine remorse for what he did and had otherwise led a blameless life, Judge Gittos said.

He had also already paid the woman $2000 reparation.

Both defence and prosecution counsels agreed that a sentence of home detention was appropriate and Judge Gittos sentenced him to seven months, to be served in his Wellington home.

- NZPA