A Mosgiel man was last night remanded in custody after a jury found him guilty of committing an indecent act on a schoolboy and supplying him with cannabis and pills.
When his trial began in the Dunedin District Court last Friday, Dwayne John Davis aka McLean (39) was denying a total of 11 charges - five alleging sexual conduct with a young person under 18 and three each of supplying cannabis and the class B drug oxycodone to the boy and a friend.
Two of the sexual conduct charges were dismissed during the hearing for lack of evidence and the jury reached verdicts on the rest of the charges late yesterday after deliberating for just over six hours.
They found Davis guilty of supplying the boy with cannabis and doing an indecent act on him on one occasion between April 29 and October 20, 2010, but they reached a not guilty verdict on an associated charge of supplying him with oxycodone, a class B drug.
Davis was also acquitted on two other charges alleging indecent acts against the under-18-year-old boy between October 2010 and December 2012.
But he was found guilty of supplying cannabis and oxycodone to the same boy and a friend, three of the charges being representative, alleging offending more than once, between the same dates.
Following the jury's verdict, Judge Michael Crosbie gave Davis a warning under the "three strikes'' legislation on the sexual offence.
He rejected an application by defence counsel John Westgate for bail so the defendant could get his affairs in order before being given a custodial sentence.
While Davis had been on bail during the trial, that was an indulgence, the judge said.
The offences on which he had been convicted were serious and he did not believe it was a case where bail should be granted.
As acknowledged by Mr Westgate, the starting point for sentence on the indecency charge was likely to be at least two years, Judge Crosbie said.
That offence was aggravated by the supplying of drugs so the sentence would be increased, meaning there was no prospect of a prison term of two years or less, where an electronically monitored penalty could be considered.
And Crown counsel Craig Power suggested the starting point for sentence would be a lot higher than two years, the judge said.
He convicted Davis and remanded him in custody for sentence on July 25.
