Sports trainer gets 10 years jail for rape

Sports trainer Malcolm John Platt mouthed "I love you" to his wife in the back of a Christchurch court today after being sentenced to 10 years' prison for raping and sexually violating a 16-year-old girl.

Platt, 47, continues to maintain that the sexual activity was consensual, but the jury at his Christchurch District Court trial in late March returned three prompt guilty verdicts.

Judge Michael Crosbie imposed a minimum non-parole term of four years.

Judge Crosbie said today that the girl, who some had some mild intellectual impairment, had suffered "not inconsiderable sexual trauma".

"The impact for this young woman is that if she did not already have enough trouble in her life, she will now have considerable issues as a result of this."

She had shown a marked age regression since the offence, had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, and had been receiving ACC counselling.

Defence counsel Paul Johnson asked for a merciful sentence for Platt, saying that his client had "misread the signals" from the girl. But Judge Crosbie rejected that.

"This was a case of real gratification by an adult man preying on a young woman, much younger intellectually, who was extremely vulnerable," he said.

The sentencing needed to impose a strong deterrent message, he said.

He reduced Platt's jail term by a year because he had no previous convictions.

He also noted that Platt had a "talented sporting past" and had been highly regarded as a boxing trainer.

He has been in custody since the jury's guilty verdicts on March 26.

- NZPA