Transgender sex offender Alex Aleti Seu to stay in prison as parole denied

A transgender woman who followed a drunk man and sexually assaulted him in a Dunedin churchyard will remain behind bars.

Alex Aleti Seu, 36, has done 32 sessions with a counsellor while serving her six-years-nine-months sentence, and completed the Drug Treatment Programme at Auckland Prison.

But the Parole Board at a hearing this month could not allow release since the inmate had no approved address.

Seu’s sentence expires in July.

In 2016, she had been at the theatre while her victim had been watching an All Blacks game in an Octagon bar, the court heard at the 2017 sentencing.

According to court documents, she followed him along George St before dragging him into a darkened alleyway, where a range of sex acts took place.

The victim fled but Seu followed him down Great King St and into the grounds of a church, where the violations continued.

She was also convicted of several indecent assaults which took place in the ensuing months.

Alex Aleti Seu. Photo / Otago Daily Times

The Parole Board heard Seu had six previous convictions, including violence, but no prior sex crimes.

While in prison she had been made a mentor on a rehabilitation programme, had returned negative drug tests and was in the minimum-security unit.

“Ms Seu has positive reports on her conduct in the prison. The notes indicate that she gets on well with others in her programme and is respectful to staff,” panel convener Judge Geoffrey Ellis said.

“Ms Seu spoke briefly to the Board acknowledging her offending and indicating that through her psychological treatment she had come to terms with what she had done and the challenges facing her as she gets on with her life.”

The inmate told the board she wanted to go back to study when she was eventually released and perhaps pursue her interest in writing.

The board commended her for the work she had done and urged her to formulate a detailed safety plan before her next parole hearing in the coming weeks.