Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter
This article deals with sexual offending and may be distressing for some readers
A woman has told her grandson that he “crossed a very sacred line” when he raped her in her own home.
The woman, who is nearly 40 years older than her grandson, had invited him to her home and prepared him a meal.
Later in the night she made up a spare room for him, went to bed in her own room, and went to sleep.
But, she woke up to find him on her. She tried to fight him off but he put his hand around her throat, causing her to fear for her life.
When she was able to, she ran to a neighbour’s house and police were called.
“You broke my heart,” the grandmother said in a brief victim impact statement which was read to the court as he was sent to prison for nine years.
The case is believed to be unprecedented in New Zealand law.
Lawyers who tried to find similar cases to assist the judge in the sentencing process said they could not, and Judge Richard Earwaker said there was nothing else that was fundamentally the same legally.
The rape was not the only offending the man was sentenced for.
The court heard he had masturbated in front of another female relative at a different house two months before he attacked his grandmother in late 2024, and a week after he was released from prison.
That woman had been disgusted by his action and had left the house.
The man also faced charges of assaulting prison officers. He appeared in court in handcuffs and flanked by three Corrections officers.
The man pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including rape, assaulting a female, doing an indecent act and assaulting prison officers, after his bid to plead not guilty on the grounds of insanity was declined by the court.
However, the judge said that while he had not been acting under a disease of the mind when he offended, he had a complex mental health background and a “disturbed personality structure”.
This included post-traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – conditions that were made worse by illicit drug use.
Judge Earwaker said the rape had a “tremendous and profound effect” on the grandmother.
She had suffered not just physical harm but “huge emotional harm”.
“Your grandma deserved to feel safe in her own home,” he said.
He read parts of the victim impact statement, in which she said she had suffered tremendous grief and loss, and told her grandson, “You crossed a very sacred line”.
The judge sentenced the man to eight years and nine months in prison, with a second cumulative sentence of three months for stabbing two prison officers with a pencil, injuring both, making a total of nine years in jail.
The man’s parents were in court to support him.
SEXUAL HARM
Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email support@safetotalk.nz
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.
