The man, aged in his 50s, was found guilty of eight charges following a jury trial in the Dunedin District Court in 2018, crimes which had ‘‘extremely damaged, if not in fact destroyed’’ his young victim.
He was granted permanent name suppression at sentencing to protect the identity of the victim.
The Otago Daily Times revealed how the man caused a huge stir when he had arranged to undertake a polygraph test while behind bars, the results of which were anonymously delivered to his victim’s family, causing further trauma.
Then Corrections minister Kelvin Davis called it ‘‘completely unacceptable’’ and issued an apology.
The Parole Board, in March, heard the Rolleston Prison inmate continued to deny his offending and despite being a minimum-security prisoner, had caused some concern with his attitude.
‘‘He appears to at times be non-compliant,’’ panel convener Judge Eddie Paul said.
There had been no misconducts on his record in the previous six months, but that could be explained by his principal Corrections officer’s high threshold for breach action, he said.
Judge Paul said it was ‘‘disconcerting’’ the inmate had objected to his unit manager being present at his first parole hearing last year.
At the most recent hearing, the sex offender also requested his case manager be absent because he believed she was ‘‘not proactive in terms of his parole’’.
At trial, the court heard how the defendant took advantage of his stepdaughter routinely over many years.
The first attack came in the early hours following her 11th birthday.
The man snuck into her room, removed her clothing and raped her while holding her by the neck and telling her to shut up, the court heard.
‘‘You relentlessly carried out your offending in the victim’s home, at times when you were alone with her, at times when everyone else was asleep,’’ Judge Kevin Phillips said at the 2018 sentencing.
The victim and her family told the Parole Board they strongly objected to his release, but his counsel Annabel Maxwell-Scott said there was an approved address with a family member for her client as well as a psychological report that put him at below average risk of sexual reoffending.
There was no treatment recommended.
But Judge Paul questioned why the man had not been considered to undertake the deniers programme — therapy for prisoners who continued to claim innocence.
A safety plan formulated by the inmate was also criticised as ‘‘far too wordy, not concise and not focused on risk’’.
The next parole hearing was scheduled for November, but the ODT understands it had been brought forward to July following an application from the prisoner.
His sentence officially ends in 2033.
