The victim spoke out to highlight how hard disclosing abuse is for children in gang families. Photo / file
The victim spoke out to highlight how hard disclosing abuse is for children in gang families. Photo / file
Warning: This story contains descriptions of child sexual abuse
A Napier man has admitted raping, abusing and assaulting a little girl - starting when she was just four years old - and recording video and images of the violations.
Bruce Wayne Hintz, 65, initially told police he did not know the victim and had no idea how the images and footage of her ended up hidden in a pornographic magazine under his mattress.
But last month - days before he was due to stand trial - he pleaded guilty to 17 counts of child sex abuse and making or possessing objectionable material.
Most of the charges are representative, meaning police believed the man had committed multiple offences of the same type in similar circumstances.
His victim spoke to the Herald ahead of sentencing. She wanted people to know what he had done - and to highlight how hard disclosing abuse is for children in gang families.
“My dad was in a gang, my grandad; my sister’s partner, my baby’s dad, my partner,” she said.
“I have lost relationships with heaps of people for talking to police... they were angry, they called me a nark.
On top of the trauma of disclosing the abuse - she is working through the impact of what Hintz subjected her to.
“I’ve only just been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder... I was groomed; I knew everything about sex before I was seven years old.
“I turned to meth at 14 and I had a gram-a-day habit... I went into sex work with no hesitation. I tried to overdose multiple times.
“I did some pretty ruthless stuff because I didn’t know how to deal with it.
“I took $24k out of my grandparent’s account and just got f**ked up on drugs... I always had the thought in my head about whether I did this to myself, if I was to blame.
“I don’t think there is any real way to deal with the psychological shit he has dragged me through.”
Five years of horror: The secret sex abuse
The first time the victim can remember Hintz abusing her was just after her fourth birthday.
When the victim was a child she spent a lot of time staying with relatives who knew Hintz.
She was friends with one of his children, so saw Hintz regularly and often stayed at his house.
No one suspected Hintz was abusing the girl - who he called his “princess” - and either filming or photographing the assaults.
Hintz’s offending is outlined in the police Summary of Facts, provided to the Herald by the Napier District Court. The first assault happened soon after she turned four.
“(Hintz) took her to the shed where he placed a single mattress on the ground. He made her inhale what she now believes to have been cannabis,” said police.
The last assault the girl could remember happened when she was eight or nine.
She went to Hintz’s house and knocked on the front door, intending to confront him about the sexual abuse.
“(He) answered the door wearing a lavalava. (He) flashed his penis at (the girl) and told her to go inside and sit down,” the summary said.
“(The girl) did as she was told and questioned (Hintz) about his actions -the sexual abuse. (He) put his hand on (her) lap and attempted to pull her pants down.”
She then left the house.
The information the victim gave police led to Hintz being charged with three counts of indecency with a girl under 12, two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of performing an indecent act with intent to insult or offend, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection with the electric toothbrush and sex toy, and two of performing an indecent act on a child.
In March 2023 after the victim had disclosed the abuse, police executed a search at Hintz’s suburban Napier home.
Evidence found during the search resulted in the other charges of rape, two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two charges of making an objectionable publication and one of possessing objectionable material.
Hidden under Hintz’s mattress police found a pornographic magazine with two sheets of paper tucked inside.
On the sheets were 17 images - 16 relevant to the victim.
Hintz will be sentenced in the Napier District Court in September. Photo / NZME
Police seized a hard drive and floppy disk from Hintz’s home office.
On the disk, they found electronic versions of five of the images printed onto the sheets in the magazine.
“In a folder on the hard drive, there were two videos and ten image files relevant to this matter. The folder properties show it was a hidden folder indicating other users would not have known it was present,” the summary states.
“The owner from the metadata appears to link back to a user logon name “Hintz”.”
Incriminating evidence: Proof of rapes, assaults in Hintz house
Police linked many of the images to a particular make and model of digital camera.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for the rape alone.
Give him the maximum: Victim’s plea to sentencing judge
“I will be at court, doing a Victim Impact Statement... I will be asking the judge to give him the maximum sentence,” the victim said.
The victim said her journey from disclosing the abuse to sentencing had been incredibly difficult.
She is a third-generation gang child and many of her family are either members of or affiliates of the Outlaws MC, Mongrel Mob and the Head Hunters gangs.
Growing up she was taught not to trust police, not to tell authorities anything. To shut up and get on with it.
“I would say things like ‘I don’t like him, he looks at me funny’ and I would get told ‘let it go’ or ‘shut up, don’t worry about it’. I never said what he was really doing.... no one would help me.”
But she wanted Hintz to be held accountable for his offending and she went against everything she knew to report him.
“When I first went to the police, it took them three weeks to find a detective for me to speak to that hadn’t been involved in investigating or locking up my dad,” she said.
“Talking to Victim Support, ACC... it all made me so uncomfortable... I just didn’t trust anyone.”
She went to the police in 2016 and made a statement but nothing came of it at the time.
“I still was on meth... I can’t remember if I was just too fried or they didn’t get back to me.
“Then I had my daughter and when she was the same age I was when this started… she ended up going to the school near his house. I just thought f**k that.
“I went back to the police, I was clean and I remembered a lot more. I asked them if I could go back over my original statement.”
Hintz was arrested and charged soon after.
The victim has struggled to access any meaningful help. She says there are no really supports out there for victims with gang backgrounds. Photo / 123rf
A mind***k: When your day in court never comes
As his trial approached she spent a lot of time working with specialists to prepare mentally.
“Mentally, it screwed me up,” she said.
“They showed me the photos and it triggered more memories... there is so much more stuff that came up that wasn’t in the charges... that affected me badly.
“And then he pleaded guilty and I didn’t even have the chance to say everything I wanted to. That f***ked me up emotionally.”
She has struggled over the years to get any real help. Mental health support and counselling have been offered and provided, but nothing specific to her background and trauma.
“The whole reason I wanted to talk about it was because I know for a fact I am not the only one in this situation... kids like us, with predominantly gang families, need people with the right knowledge.
“This stuff is hard, but being a gang kid makes it so much more challenging... we’re too ashamed to and too scared to talk about it to police. If my dad had not been in prison when I reported this, I would have gotten in so much more trouble from him for speaking to the cops.
“It’s a mind f*ck.”
Bruce Wayne Hintz - the charges
Hintz has pleaded guilty to seven single charges:
Indecency with a girl under 12 between April 2002 and April 2003
Sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between April 2002 and April 2003
Indecent act with intent to insult or offend between April 2002 and April 2003
Indecent act with intent to insult or offend between April 2006 and April 2008
Indecent act on a child between April 2006 and April 2008
Sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between April 2002 and April 2008 - as photographed (two charges)
He has also pleaded guilty to 10 representative charges:
Sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between April 2002 and April 2007
Indecency with girl under 12 between April 2002 and May 2005
Indecent act on a child under 12 between May 2005 and April 2007
Sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between April 2002 and April 2007
Indecency with girl under 12 between April 2002 and May 2005
Indecent act on a child May 2005 and April 2007
Making an objectionable publication (6 images) between April 2002 and February 2005
Making an objectionable publication (13 images/2 videos) between February 2005 and July 2008
Possession of objectionable publication (18 videos) on 30 March 2023
Sexual violation by rape between April 2002 and April 2008 - as photographed in five images
Three additional charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection were withdrawn by the Crown.
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
