KEY POINTS:
Emotional scenes unfolded at the High Court in Wellington yesterday as a "depraved" sex offender who targeted children in their own homes was given the harshest sentence available.
Amor Josiah Walter, 27, had pleaded guilty to 36 charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of sexual violation by rape, four of indecent assault and two of supplying cannabis.
The offences were carried out on 15 children, ranging in age from 3 to 15, and took place in homes in the Hutt Valley between 1999 and 2006.
Walter befriended vulnerable families, moved in with them as a boarder and then repeatedly abused the children.
He was sentenced to preventive detention - an indeterminate, life-long sentence for the highest risk offenders - with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years.
Angry scenes erupted as Walter was placed before the court, with one young man swearing and shouting "I'm going to kill you," before being restrained and removed from court.
Throughout the sentencing loud sobbing came from the gallery, and at the end of the hearing the mother of one of the victims collapsed.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said it was one of the worst cases of prolonged sexual violation of children that had come before the court.
He described the actions of Walter, whose sexual preference was boys aged 7 to 10, as "nothing short of depraved".
Walter had groomed his victims, including using cannabis with an 8-year-old boy, and his offending was repeated, planned and premeditated, Mr Burston said.
The children had no ability to escape from what was happening to them in their own homes. There were 15 victims, thousands of individual violations and a huge impact on the families, Mr Burston said.
Defence lawyer Christopher Stevenson said it was important to look at Walter's history, which had left him a "profoundly damaged young man".
Walter had a "tortured and torturous childhood" and had chronically sexually abused himself from the age of five. His mother suffered from a mental illness which culminated in her setting fire to herself, Mr Stevenson said.
Walter was now "a piteous and wretched figure".
To his credit, Walter had pleaded guilty and after his arrest provided details of his offending to police, as well as names of victims.
Justice Forrest Miller said the 44 charges represented "gross and almost incessant offending" against child victims over seven years.
The offending was physically painful for the children and Walter sometimes used force against his victims. He offended repeatedly, sometimes several times a day.
"You seem to have lived for little else."
Justice Miller said there was no period during the seven years that Walter was not offending with at least one child.
Walter characterised the children as willing sexual participants.
Walter had three previous child sex convictions as well as a Youth Court conviction.
He had had intensive therapy in the past which had failed, and continued to offend in a calculated manner.
- NZPA
