A 31-year-old woman stood motionless in the dock at the Greymouth District Court while the father of her schoolboy lover told the court her actions had almost wrecked his family.
The woman, who has permanent name suppression to protect her children from embarrassment, was sentenced to six months community detention,100 hours of community work and 12 months supervision, including a psychiatric assessment.
She had admitted having a sexual relationship with a minor, the affair starting when the boy was just 14.
The boy's father, 51, was stifling tears as he read a victim impact statement to the court at Tuesday's hearing.
He said the woman, who lives in Reefton, had been a family friend and he and his wife were grateful when she agreed to take in the boy and be a foster mum to him for a while because he was being rebellious at home.
When rumours of the sexual relationship developed, the boy's parents could not believe them. Eventually, they decided to send him to Westport to live with another family member, but soon learned he was sneaking back to Reefton to be with his lover.
Three weeks ago all contact with the son, now 16, ceased again and the father believed he was again living with the woman in Reefton.
"If I had committed these offences on a girl I'd be behind bars already. I'll never forgive her and never want to speak to her again," he said.
In a letter to the court, his wife said the accused was a family friend and she had believed her when she denied the offending.
"The disgust we felt in the pits of our stomachs was enormous."
Defence lawyer Eymard Bradley said the woman regretted the relationship and at no stage tried to absolve herself from blame.
Judge Phil Moran said the boy would have thought that all his "Christmases had come at once" and had been a willing participant, but the law was there to protect young people from their own wrong decisions.
"It's sad to hear that he is back with you and the relationship continues, but he's above the age of consent now and there's nothing I can do about that, but the harm that he has suffered will be apparent in due course."
