The Invercargill District Court. Photo / Supplied
WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
A Winton man has blamed God for telling him to sexually abuse his stepdaughters.
The man was granted final name suppression in the Invercargill District Court on Friday.
In May, a jury found him guilty on four charges of rape, two of doing an indecent act on a child, one of doing an indecent act on a young person and one of having sexual conduct with a young person outside New Zealand.
The defendant was sentenced to 16 years and two months’ imprisonment.
The charges represented 11 years of sex crimes against the two girls.
Before marrying the girls’ mother, the man had taken a sexual interest in the eldest daughter.
The court heard he had lain beside the 11-year-old on her bed, initially reading a book, before reaching under her shirt and touching her.
The girl told her mother about the incident but when she confronted the defendant about it, he denied anything had happened.
“Possibly because she complained, you decided to leave her alone,” Judge Duncan Harvey said.
But as the victim’s sister got older, the stepfather began to abuse her.
On one occasion, he kissed the girl and told her that God had been telling him he needed to be in a relationship with her.
The court heard both victims had been brought up in a Christian household and their religious beliefs were important to them.
The man took the victim overseas.
On the last night of their trip while in a hotel, the defendant grabbed the victim, pushed her on to the bed and raped her.
On another occasion he gave the young girl a necklace and said that was the equivalent of them being married.
While living together, there were many occasions when the man would drag the victim out of her bed and into his to rape her, the jury heard at trial.
At one address where they lived for six months, this would occur every time they were alone.
The eldest daughter told the court the ordeal had damaged her relationship with other male family members.
“[The defendant] ruined my childhood and upbringing and I only seem to have bad memories of it,” she said.
“For once, [he] no longer holds power over me. I hope [he] has time for reflection so he doesn’t do this to anyone else in the future.”
Crown prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas said the offending was manipulative and calculated.
“All offending against children requires a certain manipulation ... to ensure that children don’t say anything,” she said.
“This man has shown himself an expert at the manipulative side.”
Judge Harvey said there had been a significant breach of trust.
“These girls were entitled to rely on you at the very least for protection, if not for love,” he said.
“You were treating [the younger girl] as you would treat a girlfriend, but you had absolutely no interest in whether she was consenting or not.”
The defendant stood in the dock clutching a bible and showed no emotion as his sentence was passed.
The judge ruled the defendant would serve a minimum of half of his sentence before seeing the Parole Board.
He will automatically be registered on the child sex offender register.
· Typically people are charged and prosecuted in the country where they offended.
· While this case is not the first where somebody has been charged for offending that occurred in another country, Crown prosecutor Mike Brownlie said it was relatively uncommon.
· There is a specific charge for having sexual conduct with a child or young person outside of New Zealand; however, before charges are filed under that section, the consent of the attorney-general is required.
· In this case, the deputy solicitor-general (criminal) gave consent for the prosecution to proceed for offences outside New Zealand.
— Felicity Dear, PIJF court reporter
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