A young man who filmed himself having sex with a drunk 15-year-old girl posted the video to Snapchat but claimed on one occasion it was an "honest mistake". Photo / 123RF
WARNING: This story deals with sexual harm and may be upsetting.
A young man plied a 15-year-old girl with vodka and got her so drunk she barely understood what was happening.
He then had sex with her and posted his exploits to a Snapchat group titled Lads Night.
In the video the man put his belt around the victim’s neck and told her to say “f*** the Wallabies” repeatedly, having just watched a rugby match between the Australian team and the All Blacks.
The man, who was 19 at the time and had just left school, was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today to 11 months’ home detention on charges that resulted from his actions two years ago.
Judge Jo Rielly said the way the victim had been degraded was significant and had not only been offensive, but hurtful and harmful.
The man’s bid for permanent name suppression was declined, but NZME can’t name him pending any appeal against suppression being lifted today.
He pleaded guilty in July this year and was convicted on a list of charges including unlawful sexual connection with a person under 16, knowingly making an objectionable publication, possessing and knowingly distributing an objectionable publication - namely a video of him having sex with a girl under 16 - plus three charges of supplying alcohol to a minor.
He met the victim for the first time in 2020, at which point she was either 14 or 15, and started messaging her on the social media platform Snapchat.
The social media app is used to send messages, pictures, live video chat or short videos which are available for only a short time.
It’s also used for sharing messages, pictures, live video chats or short videos on a chronological “story”, which is broadcast to all of a person’s followers.
After the pair met the man would give the teen and her friends alcohol and drive them around town where they wanted to go.
In June 2021 the victim was staying with a friend when the defendant picked up her and a friend and drove them to his house where he provided a bottle of vodka they all started drinking.
The victim and the man “got quite drunk” and ended up having consensual sex. The police said it was unclear if he knew the victim’s age at that point.
He then took a video of them having sex and stored it on his mobile phone.
The victim next saw the man in August 2021, about four days before her 16th birthday.
He knew then she was only 15, police said.
He had been drinking with friends after watching a rugby match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies and began messaging the victim on Snapchat.
They arranged to meet and he arrived with a bottle of vodka and started encouraging the victim and her friends to take shots of the spirit.
The victim got “really drunk”, began making out with the man, but then started to feel sick.
She told him to stop but he continued taking his pants off, saying it was “alright” before the victim reluctantly consented to have sex with him, in her drunk state.
It was on this occasion he put his belt around the victim’s neck.
Without her consent, he then took his mobile phone and started to record a video of himself having sex with her.
He then posted the video to a Snapchat group chat called “Lads Night” where a number of his male friends could see it or download it. Some of the men included those with whom he had been drinking that night.
He also accidentally posted the video to his Snapchat story feed, which was broadcast to all of his followers.
Realising the gravity of his actions, he quickly deleted the sex video from his Snapchat story feed but not before at least 10 of his followers had already seen it, including members of the Lads Night group chat.
He told police at the time that he did not mean to post the sex video, and that he had accidentally pressed the wrong button on his phone which caused the video to be posted on his Snapchat social media feed.
Judge Rielly said in sentencing him his actions had been a “significant error of judgement” but she was satisfied on the evidence it was one he wouldn’t repeat.
The man sought permanent name suppression, through fear of a social media backlash, and on the grounds submitted by his father who was afraid of reputational damage to his long career in the New Zealand Defence Force.
Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said social media was the mechanism for the offending and enough people knew already what had happened.
He said there was a lack of evidence from the defendant’s father to support his bid to keep his son’s name suppressed, other than what he feared, including any possible retribution from his employer.
Judge Rielly said after a lengthy consideration that the application for suppression failed to meet the threshold of extreme hardship.
An interim order is in place, pending any appeal.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.