Paetau Tioata subjected his young victim to rape and a string of indecencies when she was staying with him and his family. Photo / 123RF
Paetau Tioata subjected his young victim to rape and a string of indecencies when she was staying with him and his family. Photo / 123RF
The eleventh-hour remorse shown by a man who raped a young girl staying at his family home showed he was more sorry for himself than his victim, a judge has said.
Paetau Tioata, who met the victim through church, has been sent to prison for nine years for the rape and sexual assault of a young girl who was only 11 when the offending began.
It stopped when she was 12 but by then her childhood had been stolen and her family broken.
"This family put their trust in you, they helped you in many ways and this is how you thanked them," Judge David Ruth told Tioata who hung his head and sobbed quietly as he was sentenced in the Nelson District Court yesterday.
The 34-year-old was found guilty by a jury in July on two counts of rape, plus other charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, sexual conduct with a child under 12 and another with a child under 16.
Tioata, who was abused himself as a child, had denied the charges which were said to have occurred on five separate occasions over 12 to 18 months.
He was asked during sentencing to reflect on how he might have felt had the abuser he blamed for ruining his life called him a liar, as he had labelled his victim.
Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said Tioata's offending was made worse by the fact the victim was young, and there had been a significant breach of trust.
Tioata and his family met the victim's family through church. One night the victim's mother asked her to stay the night at the Tioata home to help his fiancée with their young children.
While she was asleep in a bed shared with one of Tioata's daughters he returned home from a night shift, went into the room and woke her up when he touched her leg.
The police summary of facts said the victim was too afraid to move. She was then subjected to indecencies performed by Tioata, which left her deeply upset and afraid to tell.
The following night she told her mother she did not want to stay at Tioata's house anymore but was told she had to help his fiancée while he was at work. The child was raped that night.
It was only when she began crying that her mother decided not to send her to stay at the house. However later in 2019 she was sent back to the house when her parents went away for a few days.
Paetau Tioata was sentenced in the Nelson District Court to nine years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of a young girl who was staying with him, his wife and family. Photo / Tracy Neal
Despite the victim trying to protect herself with a blanket wrapped tightly around her that night, she was raped again. She was too afraid to tell him to stop, believing no one would help as she had no family around.
She was subjected to further indecencies as she slept in the lounge with his fiancée and family on another occasion.
Tioata was arrested in March 2020 after the girl told her friends what was happening. They told a teacher who alerted the police.
Webber said Tioata's apology at sentencing was not enough to demonstrate remorse, after he had called the victim a liar, and had put her and the family through a trial.
The court heard how credit was sought on the end sentence for the remorse expressed and for the contents contained in the cultural report.
Webber said the Crown office in Nelson had also concerns about the objectivity contained in some of the cultural reports.
He said Cultural Reports New Zealand had set up a Facebook page on which posts and comments indicated the report writers considered defendants to be their clients.
"It's clear they see their role as reducing incarceration rates in New Zealand."
Tioata's lawyer John Sandston said caution was needed about making such comments when Cultural Reports NZ was not present to defend itself.
He said the report writer in this case was held in high regard, and had presented a particularly jarring report which showed Tioata had come from a terrible background.
Sandston said it didn't set out to excuse what happened, but it helped to explain.
Judge Ruth said while the points raised were "not a good look", he accepted the connection as outlined in Tioata's report, between deprivation and the abuse he was said to have suffered, and the offending he had embarked upon.
"The sad reality, Mr Tioata, is that the abused become abusers themselves," Judge Ruth said.
Sandston told the court that while Tioata still maintained he did not commit rape, he had expressed remorse and that he did not intend to appeal against his sentence, which meant the family could now be assured the matter would not be coming back to court.
Judge Ruth said the evidence behind what Tioata had done was overwhelming, but worse was that he only now acknowledged the victim was telling the truth.
"While you are not prepared to acknowledge the jury verdict was absolutely correct in respect of the rapes, yet knowing that your victim was telling the truth you nonetheless put them through the ordeal of a trial."
Judge Ruth said one of the pre-sentence reports showed Tioata had limited empathy and did not understand the impact on the victim and the harm caused.
