A 15-year-old is now serving a jail term for rape by sodomy of a woman and in other cases recently before the Rotorua District and Youth Courts, three teens aged 14 to 16 face rape or serious sexual assault charges.
The 15-year-old, who has permanent name suppression, has been sent to jail for three years and six months after admitting sodomising a 45-year-old woman in her home last January.
The teen's actions were described at sentencing in the Rotorua District Court as predatory. He was drunk, followed the woman home and broke into her house while she slept.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper of the Rotorua CIB said crime committed by juveniles was becoming more serious.
His detectives are noticing the offenders are getting younger.
"There are a number of young people going through the system for aggravated robberies, grievous assaults and serious sexual offences."
The three teens who face serious sexual charges appeared in the Rotorua Youth Court last week.
One, aged 15, is charged with rape and two counts of sexual violation with girls aged under 13 and a 16-year-old is charged with burglary and two counts of unlawful sexual connection with boys aged under 12.
A 14-year-old is charged with unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged between 12-18.
Rotorua police area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said that nationally there was concern more young people were committing more serious violent crime.
Mr Horne said the latest Ministry of Justice victims of crime survey created a profile of the most victimised New Zealanders - Maori solo mothers living in rented homes in low-decile areas.
"One of the things we find is a lot of victimisation is about family violence.
"Young boys brought up in an environment characterised by family violence are far more likely to offend.
"That goes back to why reducing family violence is so important."
Rotorua sexual abuse counsellor Anne Ward said she hoped all young people convicted of serious sexual offences were getting appropriate counselling as there was evidence they could be helped. "Here's hoping they don't just get chucked in jail and forgotten about."
The 15-year-old who was jailed for sodomy has been ordered by Judge Phillip Cooper to take part in a Focus Programme for sexual offenders while in jail.
The teen expressed remorse to his victim during sentencing, weeping as he apologised.
"I'm sorry for what I have done to you. I was too drunk," he said.
The woman said in her victim impact statement that she found it difficult to sleep.
"I have nightmares and wake thinking he is on top of me again, suffocating me. I go to work tired.
"I freak when I am alone. I don't hate [the offender] but I hate what he did to me."
The youth's lawyer Brian Foote said the teenager had been on an eight-hour drinking binge, had smoked cannabis before the offence and had little recollection of what happened.
Crown Prosecutor Amanda Gordon described the teen's behaviour as predatory.
"He saw her alone. He saw her enter the house alone. Then he entered the house, too.
"She was asleep and he violated her. Her own home is a place where she should have felt safe."
The Ministry of Justice recently released statistics for pre-teen violence that show from 1998-2008, the number of arrests for grievous/serious assaults by 10-13-year-olds increased by more than 70 per cent, and for minor assaults by more than 20 per cent.
For each of the most recent two years, there have been almost 1000 arrests for 10-13-year-olds for all violent offences, which include aggravated robbery, sexual violation, indecent assault and serious assaults.
Teenager jailed for serious sex crime
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