Jack Prenter was sentenced in the Whanganui District Court to 12 months' home detention on Monday after being found guilty of rape. Photo / Bevan Conley
WARNING: This story details sexual violence.
A teenage party where a girl was raped involved a dangerous mix of large quantities of alcohol and a lack of adult supervision, a judge has noted.
Judge Andrew Becroft made the comments in the Whanganui District Court on Monday during his sentencing of Jack Arthur Prenter on one charge of sexual violation by rape.
The 19-year-old, who was aged 17 at the time of his offending, was found guilty in August of raping a 16-year-old girl two years ago.
Prenter and the girl were both boarders at Whanganui Collegiate when they attended the birthday party at the site of the former St George’s School, which was then a pilot school, on Friday, October 28, 2020.
Boarders had required written releases to attend the party and many had arranged to stay the night at the venue which had many unoccupied rooms, and they planned to drink alcohol, Judge Becroft said.
“It was to be quite the bash.”
He noted most of the alcohol for the party had been purchased by the parents of partygoers because none of the attendees were old enough to buy it for themselves.
Prenter, who was known to be an extrovert, was already intoxicated when he arrived and “felt up” several girls while dancing with them.
One girl refused to dance with him any further after he grabbed at her chest and underwear.
Judge Becroft said while Prenter’s behaviour was irresponsible and inappropriate it didn’t result in police charges.
He also noted another girl who Prenter attempted to kiss in a kitchen chiller told the jury he stopped immediately when asked.
“She was very clear, you respected her wishes.”
Another girl, who Prenter had been having consensual sex with in a room, also detailed at trial how he stopped when asked.
Judge Becroft said the victim, who has name suppression and wasn’t at the sentencing, had been put to bed in the birthday girl’s room about 9pm by friends because she’d had too much to drink.
She was later joined by another teenage girl who was good friends with Prenter.
When the party ended about 11pm Prenter, who was unsure where he should sleep, got into bed with the pair.
Prenter and his friend spoke for a while but she left because she couldn’t sleep and had to work the next morning.
The victim was still asleep but was awoken by Prenter trying to pull her underwear off.
“You were trying to pull her skirt up and pulling her legs apart.”
Judge Becroft said the victim remembered trying to push Prenter off but then stopped and couldn’t move.
Other teenagers poked their heads into the room and saw Prenter straddling the victim. One girl shouted at him to leave but he didn’t.
Judge Becroft, the former Childrens’ Commissioner, described the victim as unshaken under cross-examination, and that her story never wavered.
“She said ‘It did happen and it is something that I will remember for the rest of my life’.”
Prenter’s parents removed him from school following the rape.
Judge Becroft said after the rape Prenter’s victim was traumatised by the social impacts of the ordeal, including being the subject of gossip and rampant rumours.
He said her victim impact statement was harrowing reading.
“I’m heartbroken for the child I was, the innocence I lost and the memories I must carry,” the statement read.
Prenter’s victim wanted him to be held publicly accountable and Judge Becroft described his behaviour as “completely unacceptable”.
“You let down your family, your classmates, your school and yourself.”
He said young men needed to know that they couldn’t treat young women with casual disregard.
Judge Becroft said an aggravating factor was Prenter had taken advantage of a young girl who was virtually unconscious due to the significant amount of alcohol she had consumed.
The adults who purchased alcohol for the party, had let the teenagers down and for too long New Zealanders had known the risks and dangers of alcohol but chosen to ignore them, the judge added.
“I wish every parent in New Zealand could have sat through the six days of evidence in this trial.”
He signalled his intention to provide his sentencing notes along with other reports to Whanganui Collegiate and all other secondary schools in the district.
Judge Becroft began with a sentence of five-and-a-half-years imprisonment before allowing reductions that focused on the particular circumstances of the case.
He also made a clear distinction between the Jayden Meyer case in Tauranga saying they were “quite unlike”.
He gave Prenter a total of 65 per cent reduction, including 35 per cent for his youth and 15 per cent for the steps he had already taken to address his offending and positive prospects of rehabilitation, which reduced the sentence to 23 months imprisonment.
The sentence was then commuted to 12 months’ home detention and 300 hours community work.
Judge Becroft finished by telling Prenter, who had become tearful and was given tissues by the court registrar, the offending need not define him for life and also encouraging his friends and family’s friends not to judge him solely on what had happened that night.
“Just as for the victim, you need their help and support also.”
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