Violent rapist jailed indefinitely

Teanewa Joseph Ipo showed so little remorse for his violent crimes he didn't even want to be at his own sentencing.

And his attitude has resulted in him being locked up indefinitely.

The 29-year-old rapist was sentenced to preventive detention yesterday - a sentence with no guarantee of release - after he was found guilty in November of eight charges relating to the assault and rape of a Malaysian woman and her mother in February 2008.

Justice Lyn Stevens let Ipo wait in the court cells during the sentencing, but ordered him brought into the court to hear how long he would be jailed.

Because Ipo continued to deny responsibility or show remorse, Justice Stevens said, a finite sentence wouldn't provide sufficient safety to the community and imposed preventive detention.

"This essentially places remedies in your own hands," he told Ipo, who looked bored, staring down and chewing his lip.

He would not be released until he was ready to take "responsibility for his actions and make genuine efforts to address his offending".

He would still have to serve at least 10 years before he would be considered for parole.

Ipo had been out of jail on parole for less than a month when he noticed an open window in the then 48-year-old Malaysian woman's Otahuhu home and climbed in.

He took a belt with a large metal buckle from a room, went to the woman's room and began hitting her on the head.

Her screaming and kicking alerted her 67-year-old mother, asleep in another room. Ipo continued to beat her - inflicting deep cuts to her face with the metal buckle - until her mother arrived to help her.

Ipo then punched and kicked the mother before gagging her with the belt, then locked her in a wardrobe.

He returned to the dazed younger woman and told her he'd been "watching her".

She told him her husband was due home soon in the hope he would leave so he took her to look out some windows to see if he could see him.

When he couldn't he took the woman back to her bedroom. She knew he intended to rape her and begged him to take her elsewhere, away from her mother.

He raped her twice, covering her face with a blanket.

Her clothes were so bloodied he asked her to remove them, saying to her "she was lucky not to be killed".

Ipo then forced her into the wardrobe and barricaded her in with her mother. He told them if they complained to the police he would kill them.

The judge said Ipo had 74 previous convictions, including 16 for violent offences.

In 2001 he was jailed for "serious, prolonged, brutal episodes of violence" against his partner and had a history of "multiple offending sprees".

Pre-sentence reports showed he used gratuitous violence to dominate and humiliate his victims.

Detective Sergeant Mike Hayward said sentencing gave closure to the victims.

"It's been a long and arduous process for all involved. The result today was just and the community of South Auckland is better off as a result."

Soon after the attack the victim spoke to the Herald about her ordeal.

"I tried to struggle because he tried to push [down] on me. I kicked him and he got angry and punched me on my head and my face."

She described the struggle in her bedroom when her mother came to her aid.

"She tried to help, to fight with the man. She knew she can't fight with him, but she tried to save me."

When she asked him "why you do this to me?", he replied, "You know what I want".