Man stays in jail for 'sex games' with girl

Darron John Fisher, 48, lost his appeal against a 16-month jail term for indecently assaulting the 5-year-old daughter of a close friend.

A 48-year-old man jailed for indecently assaulting a close friend's young daughter has lost his appeal against his sentence.

Sentenced to 16 months' jail by Judge Arthur Tompkins when he appeared in the Masterton District Court in July, Darron John Fisher appealed, arguing the court should have "exercised discretion" and imposed home detention.

Fisher's victim was only 5 and Fisher would babysit the girl and her brother. The last time was on March 15, when he took the girl into the garage at the family home and got her to pull her pants down during a game of darts.

He then spent an hour in the bath with the girl, playing sexual games. Her brother saw this when he entered the bathroom.

Fisher pleaded guilty to the charge.

At sentencing, Judge Tompkins noted the offending was a serious breach of trust by Fisher despite his lawyer arguing the offending was spontaneous. The pre-sentence report at the time also stated Fisher minimised the offending, saying there was "nothing sexual in his actions" and it was a "lapse of reasoning", the sentencing judge had noted.

Lawyer Ian Hard argued at appeal that the sentencing judge gave too much emphasis to alleged minimisation by Fisher rather than considering other relevant factors including his client's admission of guilt and previous lack of offending.

However, appeal judge Justice Joe Williams said Fisher's claims there was nothing sexual in his actions showed he had a profound lack of insight into his offending.

Justice Williams dismissed the appeal, finding Judge Tompkins rightfully refused a home-detention sentence for Fisher.