The 78-year-old woman was abused in her own home. Photo / 123RF
The 78-year-old woman was abused in her own home. Photo / 123RF
Walter Tamamasui was jailed for sexually exploiting a woman with dementia.
The victim’s daughter described the ordeal as an attack on someone who couldn’t defend herself. The judge said it was “plainly predatory”.
Tamamasui tried to blame the woman, saying she had instigated things and he didn’t want to. The Crown cited a breach of trust and lack of genuine remorse.
A man who met an elderly woman with dementia at the dairy drove her home, took her inside and sexually assaulted her on the living room floor.
It was only the next day when the 78-year-old woman told her daughter about a man who had been in her house that Walter Tamamasui’s offending came to light.
Today, her daughter told Tamamsui — who described himself as a “God fearing man” — exactly how his actions had impacted on her mother and the harm he had caused.
“You took advantage of a vulnerable person, our mum, who could not defend herself. My mother did not ask or deserve for this to be done to her,” she said in a victim statement read out by the prosecution.
The daughter said it had been exhausting for the family as her mother struggled with dementia. She had to move out of her home and family life was disrupted as she could not return for a week after the incident.
Expensive security systems had to be installed at the property, and the victim felt fear upon returning home and at having to go for numerous invasive STD checks in the following months.
Tamamasui, 63, appeared for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court this morning on a charge of sexual exploitation of a person with significant impairment.
Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore suggested a starting point of five years, saying it was opportunistic offending and a breach of trust where the victim had accepted help from a stranger when he had come into her house.
The victim's daughter said the offending had disrupted family life and left her mother in fear.
Elsmore said the pre-sentence report was concerning as there was no genuine remorse and that he remained a risk to the community.
Defence lawyer Phillip Allan said a lot of similar comparable cases were more sinister, involving elements of grooming, premeditation and demeaning of the victim.
None of those features were present in the offending and he submitted a starting point of three years.
The defendant did not have previous convictions for sexual offending and there was an early guilty plea.
He said there would be an effect on Tamamasui’s large family — his wife had been unwell and hospitalised in recent months — and submitted an end point of two years’ jail was appropriate.
‘Plainly Predatory’
Judge Gerard Lynch said the incident happened on February 19, 2024 and as her clothes were being removed she was confused as to what was expected of her.
The judge said the events had been emotionally exhausting for the victim, the victim’s daughter’s life went on hold, as she had to help her mother.
Tamamasui had four previous convictions for violence. In 2018, he received a sentence of home detention for violence.
He had denied he sexually assaulted the victim and claimed she instigated the sexual activity, and that he did not want to do it.
He also described himself as a “God fearing man” but the judge described the offending as “plainly predatory”.
Judge Lynch said Tamamasui had exploited an elderly woman, there was profound harm to the victim, and there was great stress for the victim and her family.
The only deduction was for the guilty plea and while Tamamasui had originally been charged with rape, that charge had been changed, which halved the maximum sentence for the offence, Judge Lynch said.
He sentenced Tamamasui to three years in prison.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamata. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.
