Sexual predator sent down for life

Leo Goodwin

One of the country's worst sex offenders, Leo Darin Goodwin, was finally put behind bars for good when he was sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday.

History and science caught up with the 34-year-old.

In 1996, Goodwin was the first Waikato prisoner to be ordered to give blood so that his DNA profile could be stored on a police databank.

Nine years later, his DNA came back to haunt him, used by the Crown during his most recent trial, last November.

It took the jury just half an hour to reach its guilty verdicts on charges that included abduction for sex, threatening to kill and sexual violation.

At the sentencing yesterday, Justice Mark Cooper said the effects of Goodwin's crime went wider than the trauma and psychological damage inflicted on the victim and her family.

When the community at large learned of such offending, it lived in fear and insecurity.

"I myself am satisfied that you are likely to commit another qualified sexual offence if released prior to the expiry date. There is an absence and failure from you to address the cause or causes of your crime."

Huntly detective Russell Crawford told the Herald that, aside from several murders, Goodwin's crime was the most heinous he had come across.

The court had heard that on December 21, 2004, about 4.40pm, Goodwin abducted a 15-year-old who was making her way home along a public walkway in Huntly after spending the day Christmas shopping with friends.

Goodwin had waited in some shrubs for his victim, armed with a pillowcase. Once he snatched her, he yanked the pillowcase over her head and shoved a sock in her mouth to stop the screams.

She had begged not to be raped and feared for her life, Crown prosecutor Jacinda Foster said.

Despite this, Goodwin drove his victim to an unknown location and forced her to perform oral sex. He told her it was either oral sex or rape, and that he would kill her if she chose to bite. After he finished with her, he warned her not to tell anyone or he would "hunt her down".

Ms Foster said Goodwin had failed to show any remorse and refused to admit his guilt. Justice Cooper later added that no apology had been forthcoming from Goodwin.

Ms Foster said aggravating factors included the degree of premeditation and the predatory and random nature of the crime, the age of the victim, and the threats to kill.

Justice Cooper later said there were no mitigating factors.

The girl, now 17, and three of her supporters were in court to witness yesterday's sentencing.

Goodwin was supported in court by his mother and his partner at the time of the crime, a flatmate who was also a distant relative.

His criminal history raises questions over whether he should have been set free in 2004.

In Paeroa on September 8, 1996, he followed a woman from a rugby club prizegiving at 2am.

He hit her from behind with a wrench and raped her. During the ordeal, he bashed the woman several more times, including another blow with the wrench that broke her nose.

At his 1996 sentencing, Justice Grant Hammond said an indefinite term of imprisonment was "reserved for those beyond redemption", and instead imposed a 15-year sentence.

The 22-year-old victim described the term as not enough. She said she hoped the counselling Goodwin would get in prison worked, "not for his sake, but for the sake of the next victim".

The 15-year sentence was later deemed too heavy by the Court of Appeal.

Justices Thomas Gault, Sir David Tompkins and Noel Anderson said an assessment of Goodwin by Justice Hammond was inaccurate and was at odds with a psychiatrist's report.

The offender was entitled to a "significant reduction" in his term of imprisonment because of his early guilty plea.

He was given a 12-year sentence but served only two-thirds of that.

He also has a sinister criminal history in Australia, where he lived in the early 1990s. He spent a year in jail after holding a knife to a woman's throat in an attempt to have sex with her.

Yesterday, Justice Cooper took Goodwin's history of sexual offences into account. He imposed a minimum non-parole jail sentence of nine years, but also handed down a sentence of preventive detention.

Preventive detention is an indeterminate, lifelong sentence for the highest-risk offenders.

It means prisoners cannot be released from jail while still considered a risk to the community.

If a release is granted, they can still be recalled to prison at any point for the rest of their lives.

Goodwin's lawyer, Christopher Tennet, said he was appealing against his client's conviction, citing "procedural matters". He told the Weekend Herald he would also be appealing against yesterday's sentence.


Life of crime

Early 1990s: Threatens woman with knife in Australia. Jailed for a year.
1996: Bashes and rapes woman in Paeroa. Sentence: 15 years, reduced on appeal to 12 years. Released after 8 years.
2004: Abducts 15-year-old Huntly girl, forces her to give him oral sex. Sentence: Preventive detention.