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A man's sex affair with a schoolgirl was uncovered after he got a friend to text her saying that he had been killed in an accident, a court was told today.
Logan Scott Handy, 19, met the 14-year-old schoolgirl, exchanged cellphone numbers and started texting.
They then began a sexual relationship.
Handy later got a friend to text the girl telling her that he had been killed in an accident.
The girl was so upset her father became involved and police were called.
When a call was made to the phone where the text had come from, Handy answered.
Handy, a labourer, was today jailed at Christchurch District Court on two charges of unlawful sexual connection, burglary, theft of a vehicle, and arson.
He was given leave to apply for home detention.
He was found guilty at a jury trial on the sex charges and admitted the others.
Judge Michael Crosbie noted two earlier convictions for indecent assault on a girl aged under 12, and two for theft.
Handy pleaded guilty to burgling a neighbour's house and taking a watch and some training weights.
He worked as a labourer at a Rangiora packaging company while he was awaiting sentence on the sex charges.
While there he took the keys to a work truck worth $30,000, left the gate unsecure when he left, and returned at night to take the vehicle.
He drove it to the Ashley riverbed and set it on fire, destroying it.
Judge Crosbie jailed Handy for two years and granted him leave to apply for home detention only if he attended a residential rehabilitation course.
He ordered that he attend other treatment and counselling as directed.
- NZPA
