Recidivist Auckland child sex offender Lewis Wells, 80, to be released after delaying guilty plea until Three Strikes law repealed

Wells appeared in the Auckland High Court for sentence on Tuesday. Photo / File

A former teacher with a history of grooming and molesting young boys will be released from jail in Auckland after receiving a sentence amounting to time-served.

Lewis Payne Wells, 80, would have faced serving the maximum term of seven years in prison on two charges of committing an indecent act with a young person because it was his third strike after two earlier strike warnings for similar offending.

However, his lawyer deliberately delayed his guilty pleas until after the repeal of the Three Strikes legislation last year, so the court was no longer forced to hand down the maximum sentence for his third strike.

The Government repealed the controversial law in August 2022. Critics said it frequently led to resulted in sentences out of proportion to seriousness of the third strike offence, and did not work as a deterrent.

Wells appeared for sentence before Justice Mark Woolford in the Auckland High Court on Thursday morning, represented by Marie Dyhrberg KC.

Justice Woolford sentenced him to one year and four months in prison on the indecent act charges, and one year on a charge of failing to comply with the reporting obligations for registered child sex offenders, to be served concurrently.

He had already spent nearly two years in custody before sentencing so is eligible for immediate release.

Justice Woolford said if he could have, he would have imposed special release conditions. But because of the lengthy of time his remand period exceeded his sentence, he was unable to impose release conditions, which can only be imposed for six months after a sentence expires.

The Judge requested Corrections promptly conduct a health assessment for an Extended Supervision Order, a special order for high-risk offenders allowing them to be monitored for up to 10 years.

His latest offending happened in 2021 in a small rural Auckland township, according to a summary of facts released to the Herald.

He had met a mother and her young children while walking on the beach. Later, he saw the family had posted on a community Facebook page offering extra feijoas neighbours could come and collect.

Wells went around to the house, told the woman he used to be a teacher and offered free maths tutoring to her 12-year-old son. The boy was reluctant but agreed.

Justice Woolford sentenced Wells to time-served. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wells was deregistered as a teacher in 2011 after a hearing at the Teacher’s Council Disciplinary Tribunal following his first conviction in 2010, for unlawful sexual connection with an 11-year-old, whom he repeatedly forced to perform sex acts during overnight stays at his home.

“In a case of this seriousness involving gross indecencies with a school-aged child, it would be unrealistic to think that there is any other option but deregistration,” the Council ruled.

The first tutoring session with the 12-year-old took place in May 2021.

“At the end of the lesson, the defendant began tickling the complainant under his armpits, around his chest area and belly,” the police summary of facts said.

The boy’s mother felt uncomfortable with what happened and texted Wells to say her son no longer needed tutoring.

But he continued to stop by the house.

The first indecent act charge stemmed from a visit where he arrived at the home unannounced and spoke to the boy about maths on the deck, then groped his backside.

A few days later he went around to the house and did the same thing.

The third charge arose from his failure to disclose his Facebook account held under the name “Lew Wells” on his annual information report for his obligations as a registered child sex offender.

Prosecutor Aysser Al-Janabi said the Crown was seeking a starting point of 18 months in prison while the defence sought 12 months.

Al-Janabi said the offending showed premeditation.

He had a history of meeting a child in public, developing an interest in them, visiting them at home and touching them in an inappropriate way, she said.

“He went out of his way to offer his tutoring services to the family,” Al-Janabi said.

“When that was declined he continued to drop by.”

Al-Janabi also sought a six-month uplift for his criminal history.

Dyhrberg said her client was delayed in entering a guilty plea because they were waiting for the Three Strikes legislation to be repealed.

“We in effect were in limbo just waiting,” she said.

“It would have been quite disproportionate had it been caught by that Three Strikes.”

Justice Woolford adopted a starting point of 19 months in prison, uplifted by four months for Wells’ criminal history then reduced by 25 per cent for the guilty plea and 5 per cent for his advanced age, resulting in an end-point of one year and four months in prison for the indecent act charges.

The one year for failing to comply with child sex offender reporting obligations is to be served concurrently.

“Given you’ve spent 21 months in custody, you are eligible for immediate release,” Justice Woolford said.

He was taken back from the High Court to Mt Eden prison ahead of his release.