Paedophile admits historic abuse

A paedophile confessed to repeatedly sexually abusing a three-month-old girl after 11 years in a mental hospital racked with the guilt of his crimes.

Richard Paul Wos, 39, was out of hospital for just two weeks before he turned himself in to police.

In Wellington District Court on Friday he admitted three historic charges of indecent assault, the Dominion Post reported.

They included one-off offending against a two-year-old girl and a six-year-old girl in 1988 and 1996, and the abuse of the baby over five months, beginning in 1985 when Wos was 15.

He was given two years' jail in 1997 for similar offending and at the end of his sentence was sent to a mental hospital for 11 years.

The prosecution said that the offending of the baby was horrific.

Although under the law at the time it was deemed indecent assault it would now be sexual violation.

Wos was given a 12-month home-detention sentence with six months of special conditions to follow the end of the sentence.

Judge David Ongley said both jail and home detention carried risks but the latter had the advantage of being a valuable transition into the community.

- NZPA