Karome Rewa was sentenced in New Plymouth District Court. Photo / Tara Shaskey
A woman woke in the middle of the night to find an intruder standing next to her bed, armed with a knife and masturbating.
The terrified woman, who had her toddler in a cot next to her, punched the stranger in the stomach and screamed at him to leave.
Karome Rewa, 18, dropped the knife he had been holding and ran out of the house.
The woman and Rewa did not know each other and the incident has been described by a Crown prosecutor in the New Plymouth District Court as “disturbing”.
On Monday, the court heard the teen entered the Taranaki property around 3am on January 15 this year, through a backdoor inadvertently left unlocked.
He took a PlayStation from the woman’s lounge and a knife from her kitchen and then left. Rewa was recorded a short distance away by CCTV walking with a “white box”.
But 25 minutes later, he returned to the woman’s house with the knife he had taken and made his way into her bedroom.
Rewa exposed himself and began masturbating.
Judge Gregory Hikaka said Rewa was standing about “30 to 40cm” from the woman.
Referring to her victim impact statement, the judge said she had been significantly affected by the incident and had received counselling.
“She didn’t want to go into all the details but she referred to her child who was asleep in the cot beside her bed waking to her mother screaming at you in no uncertain terms to get out of the house,” Judge Hikaka told Rewa.
The woman described the child’s terror at hearing her mother speaking in a way she had never spoken before.
“Her worry is about her child and what her child has been exposed to as a result of you being there illegally and offensively.”
The court heard that this was not the only time Rewa had behaved indecently.
Only weeks before the aggravated burglary, he walked past a closed establishment that was being cleaned at 6.40am on December 13.
Rewa spotted a worker inside and knocked on the glass door to get her attention.
She carried on working and ignored Rewa but he went on to pull down his pants and masturbate.
The worker was disgusted and scared and phoned the police. Rewa ran away but his offending was captured on CCTV and when he was later spoken to by police, he said: “A demon was responsible”.
Rewa, who has been in custody for the past 10 months, was charged with committing burglary with a weapon and two charges of doing an indecent act in relation to the two incidents.
In court, he stood for most of the hearing with his head hung and his arms draped over the front glass panel of the dock.
Defence lawyer Mark Utting said while Rewa was assessed as having the capacity to plead to the charges, he was at the lower end of the intellectual spectrum.
Utting said Rewa’s decision-making skills were limited and some issues needed to be addressed.
“From my own experience with him, which has just been today, while he understands the [court] processes, he understands when talking through things, his main concern is when he will next be able to get a McDonald’s burger.”
Utting submitted Rewa should receive full credit for his guilty pleas, and a 35% discount for his youth, background and mental health issues, and genuine remorse.
“He’s taken responsibility.
“He does have an insight into what’s happening and probably the issue really for him is trying to put the skills in place so that if he’s in a situation again, that he doesn’t reoffend further down the track.”
Crown prosecutor Rebekah Hicklin rejected the claim Rewa was remorseful, pointing out he has refused to engage with the support services available to him.
She suggested a higher starting point than the defence and submitted any discounts for his youth and background should be capped at 20%.
“What the defendant did in the home is quite frankly disturbing ...” she said.
Judge Hikaka said Rewa, who does not have a history before the district court, had been assessed as at moderate risk of reoffending and causing harm to others.
A pre-sentence report said he has had a difficult background, experiences mental health issues, and was reluctant to engage in services available to him.
The judge took a starting point of four years imprisonment for the aggravated burglary and gave an uplift of six months for the indecencies.
He said there was an element of depravity involved in the offending at the home, the woman was vulnerable, and significant harm had occurred.
“In your case Mr Rewa, in spite of your age, imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence ... but obviously with your age and background there are discounts available to you.”
After giving full credit for Rewa’s guilty pleas and a 25% discount for his youth and background issues, he landed on an end sentence of two years’ imprisonment with leave to apply for home detention.
The judge said he did not find him particularly remorseful and encouraged him to accept the help available.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.