The Dunedin District Court. PHOTO: ODT FILES A Dunedin man responsible for two sex attacks puts it down to a couple of ‘‘poor decisions’’. Curtis Marc Everett, 28, was jailed for five years eight months in 2023 after admitting raping one woman and unlawful sexual connection with another. But three years later, at a parole hearing last month, the Otago Corrections Facility inmate was still unable to provide an explanation for the crimes. ‘‘The board remained concerned by Mr Everett’s apparent minimisation of his offending and his view that he poses no risk around other women,’’ panel convener Carolina Tiumalu said. ‘‘He appeared to characterise the offending [as] two ‘poor decisions’.’’ In 2019, a woman complained to police that Everett had violated her after she had taken sleeping pills but they decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. That changed in 2022 when a second woman complained of a sex attack. The Dunedin District Court at sentencing heard Everett had been socialising at the victim’s home when she woke to him violating her. The next day, the man sent her a series of messages on social media, one of which said: ‘‘Next time I do something like that stop me an not let me continue cause I’m not one to rape girls’’ (sic). Everett had not undertaken sex-offender treatment while behind bars but stressed to the Parole Board that he understood consent. He told a psychologist he was under the influence of alcohol, LSD and MDMA during the first incident — which he claimed ‘‘may have heightened his sex drive’’ — and methamphetamine during the second. Everett had completed alcohol and drug therapy but there were no further programmes available, due to ‘‘eligibility criteria, service availability, and the absence of identified ... treatment needs’’, the board said. He told the panel members he planned to abstain from substances once he was released, but Ms Tiumalu said that differed from what he had told the psychologist. He had told the clinician he only intended to reduce his intake. The Parole Board also noted Everett wanted to be released back to Dunedin, where the victims lived. His next hearing was set for June 2027.
