Predatory rape couple jailed

Maureen Iti and Jason Jones at Hamilton High Court. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A Waikato couple who lured vulnerable young women into their van and plied them with cannabis and alcohol before raping them have been jailed.

Jason Lloyd Jones, 38, was considered a hard-working dairy farm manager and a good father who used to attend his four teenage children's weekend sports games.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison on two counts of rape.

His partner of 20 years, Samantha Maureen Iti, 33, was jailed for four-and-a-half years on one count of rape.

A clearly stunned Jones had tears in his eyes as Justice Ailsa Duffy passed sentence.

Earlier, Justice Duffy said the couple could have been looking for some release from the "tedium" of their daily existence, having missed out on much of their social lives by raising a family in their 20s and 30s.

The High Court at Hamilton heard how the pair found their excitement by cruising the city's streets and offering rides home to lone young women near Firecats, a strip-club in the CBD that also operates as a brothel.

"My view of the facts is you have come to enjoy a lifestyle that included enjoying clubbing and enjoying sex ... What has happened is ... you have lost your bearings between legal conduct and what is illegal," said Justice Duffy.

Crown prosecutor Louella Dunn said Iti was equally culpable as she gave the victims a false sense of security by befriending them to lure them into the vehicle.

In one instance Iti began kissing one of the victim's necks when they pulled up in a secluded area by the Waikato River.

Jones then pulled her trousers down and raped her.

The woman pushed Jones off, got out of the van and walked home. She laid a complaint with police that day.

Another complainant said she had been at Firecats and was walking home when Iti opened her vehicle, smiled and offered her a drink.

The trio then drove to a private spot near Templeview where, after sharing a joint, the victim passed out.

She woke to find Jones removing her pants while Iti tried to distract her, Ms Dunn said.

"Ms Iti ... during the course of this has endeavoured to hold her hands to her chest. She was saying to her, 'It's okay, it's okay, it's all right'."

Jones and Iti then drove the woman home.

Neither victim was in court for the sentencing, but the judge said their statements showed that both were traumatised.

One said she had become angry, no longer trusted couples and panicked when she saw a van similar to Jones'. The other felt her rights, dignity and pride had been taken away.

The prosecution is calling for a retrial on a third charge of rape on which the couple were acquitted.