Sentence cuts for sex offenders under fire

A group representing survivors of sexual violence says it agrees with prominent barrister Nigel Hampton that the Court of Appeal has become too mathematical in its judgments on appeals.

The court has reduced the sentences of three sex offenders in the past two weeks.

One of them was Liam Reid, whose 26-year minimum non-parole period for the rape and murder of deaf woman Emma Agnew in November 2007 was cut to 23 years. Reid also raped and attempted to murder a 21-year-old Dunedin woman nine days after killing Ms Agnew.

This week, Christchurch man Gary Shane Ian Nicholas, 29, had a nine-year prison sentence for raping a teenager last year reduced to eight years, while former Child, Youth and Family (CYF) worker Ralph Lindsay Brunie, 40, had one year taken off his seven-year term for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in his care.

Mr Hampton QC, of Christchurch, told The Press newspaper the Court of Appeal worked on the principle of sentence parity and if there was "manifest" or "obvious disparity", a sentence should be reduced or increased to correspond.

But he thought appeal court judges were struggling to achieve parity between sentences and it had become an "academic, mathematical exercise rather than what I believe sentencing is -- a balancing of human factors, not mathematical factors."

Kim McGregor, director of Rape Prevention Education, agreed.

Dr McGregor chairs the Tauiwi caucus of Te Ohaakii a Hine - National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together (Toah-nnest), which aimed to provide one voice for the sector that responds to sexual violence.

"We would support Nigel Hampton's view of the Court of Appeal -- that it has a mechanical and mathematical approach to the length of sentences for sexual offences," she told NZPA.

"We are already frequently disappointed in the length of sentences for sexual violence. Sentences do not appear to be in line with the severity of the crime -- especially in contrast to the severe sentences given for crimes regarding the drug P."

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar has also been critical of the court, saying the trend coming it from was "disturbing."

Dr McGregor said survivors of crimes of sexual violence were often less concerned about whether the sentence was eight or nine years and were more interested in the offender acknowledging his or her crime, realising the impact of the crime, and getting treatment so that others were not similarly harmed.

Toah-nnest wanted communities safe from those who commit crimes of sexual violence and had successfully asked the last government to set up a taskforce for action on sexual violence.

The taskforce is reviewing the effectiveness of the justice system's response to sexual offending and improving outcomes for victims

Justice Minister Simon Power told The Press he had confidence in the Court of Appeal and people were entitled to appeal.

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