A 46-year-old man has blamed a brain injury from his days
tree-felling for his "failure to recognise proper boundaries"
with years of sex offending against two girls.
Judge Graeme Noble told him: "This represents another woeful
example of a male misusing his position of trust by
exercising power and dominion over defenceless children for
the purposes of sexual gratification."
The case was transferred from Blenheim District Court to
Christchurch when the man agreed to plead guilty last year.
The man's name is not suppressed but it cannot be published
because the relationship would identify his victims.
He had pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual violation by
unlawful sexual connection, one of assaulting a child, and
two of indecent assault.
Defence counsel Paul McMenamin said the man was now appalled
by the acts he had committed. The offending amounted to about
six relatively isolated incidents over about five years.
He had sustained a mild brain injury while tree-felling in
2001. A doctor's report in 2004 - about the time the
offending began - indicated he was "on the verge of a
psychotic break".
"I think it can be accepted that the injury has contributed
in a significant degree to affect his ability to recognise
the proper boundaries," said Mr McMenamin.
Judge Noble said one of the girls was aged between eight and
13 when the offending occurred, and the other was aged 15 and
16 when she was indecently assaulted.
The man had got into bed with the younger girl, fondled and
digitally penetrated her, and then begged her not to tell her
mother.
When she was aged 10 and did tell her mother, the man
confronted her and struck her on the head. The victim impact
statement made poignant reading, including the "familiar lack
of self-worth of the sexually abused child".
One of the girls was having trouble dealing with her peers at
school in the small community where she now lived, he said.
Judge Noble allowed a reduction for the guilty pleas and the
effects of the brain injury and jailed the man for three
years.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.