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A 27-year-old woman who "brainwashed" a 14-year-old boy during a sexual affair has been jailed for 18 months.
Kursty Anne Hunter was sentenced in Nelson District Court this morning after earlier pleading guilty to charges of having unlawful sexual connection with the boy and supplying him with cannabis.
After the hearing the boy's mother told the Nelson Mail the brainwashing extended further than sexual abuse. It had involved supplying her son with such large quantities of cannabis, alcohol and party pills that he became hooked on them during the seven-month affair.
Judge Tony Zohrab said plying a young boy with alcohol and drugs and engaging in sexual activity with him was serious offending that had "dire" consequences for the victim.
It was made worse by the age difference and Hunter's position of trust, particularly because she was a senior caregiver for elderly people, the judge said.
He granted Hunter leave to apply for home detention but urged the Parole Board to carefully consider the matter, given that the offending occurred at her home.
The boy's mother said her son had changed from being a "good kid" to a teenager isolated from his school friends and family.
She said he now had to learn to be a 14-year-old again, although she feared that his childhood had been ruined forever.
- NZPA
