KEY POINTS:
An unrepentant, recidivist rapist was today told he would be locked up indefinitely to protect the public.
Colin Edward Beran, 64, was sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of five years at the High Court in Wellington today.
Justice Warwick Gendall told him he would be kept in a secure care facility, where he would be kept away from the public as he presented a high risk of reoffending.
A jury earlier decided Beran was guilty of raping and indecently assaulting a 22-year-old woman. The woman had an intellectual disability, giving her the mental age of a young teenager.
Beran pleaded not guilty, saying it was consensual, but the jury rejected his evidence.
Justice Gendall said Beran's advancing years had not "diminished his proclivity for violent and coercive sexual behaviour".
Beran's first conviction for sexual offending was in 1988, when he was 45. He raped and molested a number of young people since then.
"If you establish a relationship with a young and vulnerable individual there is a high possibility you will reoffend," Justice Gendall told him.
Beran had made no moves towards rehabilitation during his previous stays in prison, the judge said.
Counsel for Beran, Louise Elder, told the court he did not want periodic detention because of the stigma attached to it . His objections to his sentence was heard and overruled.
Beran had a mental impairment, giving him significantly sub-average intelligence and impaired social functioning, Justice Gendall said.
- NZPA
