Robert Richard Roper was found guilty at Auckland District Court. Photo / File
An ex-Air Force sergeant has been found guilty of more than 20
sexual charges against five girls, and police have revealed more women
have come forward since his trial began.
Robert Richard Roper,
69, went on trial at Auckland District Court last month on 23 sex and
violence charges stemming back to the 1970s and 1980s when he worked at
the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in Hobsonville in the transport
division.
Late last night, a jury found him guilty on 21 of those charges - all the sex allegations.
He was acquitted on counts of male assaults female and assaulting a child.
The
officer in charge of the case Detective Bryony Brown said that since
Roper's name was published at the start of trial, other women had been
referred to police.
"I'm not willing to go into numbers at this
stage but what I will say is that we encourage anyone who has been a
victim of sexual offending to talk to us," she said.
Roper's offending came to light only at the end of 2012 -
23 years after leaving the Air Force - when the first victim came
forward saying he began abusing her at the age of 6, progressing to rape
as regularly as once a week when she was a teenager.
By May 2013, police charged him, as friends of the first woman gradually approached police with similar statements.
One victim told the court about a night when Roper offered her a lift home.
He
kissed and groped her as soon as they were in the car, before driving
her to an area known as "the bombing range" at the base.
Roper reclined her seat and locked the doors as she tried to escape.
He bound her hands with the seatbelt and raped her, the court heard.
Ms Brown said the victims were "very relieved" with the guilty verdicts.
"This
was obviously a very difficult time for them and we are very grateful
to the victims in this. Many of them were understandably very
traumatised by Roper's offending and it is because of their actions of
coming to us to report his offending that we were able to put him before
the courts and get this result."
Roper will be sentenced in February.
Dentist has registration cancelled after sexual offences
8:21 PM Tuesday Nov 18, 2014
The dentist said his offending had been a 'lapse of judgment', and his actions weren't sexually motivated. Photo / Thinkstock
A dentist who was convicted of sexual offences last year has had his registration cancelled.
The
dentist, who has name suppression to protect his victims, was sentenced
to eight months' home detention in the Auckland District Court last
year.
The court heard that in 2011 the man showed his son and two friends of his son pornographic material while he was present.
On two occasions he encouraged them to masturbate while he was in the room.
The
Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal heard the dentist wished to
keep his registration so he could work again after he had served his
home detention.
The dentist told the tribunal his family had
suffered significant financial hardship since the charges had been laid.
He had also suffered depression and anxiety.
The dentist said his offending had been a "lapse of judgment", and his actions weren't sexually motivated.
His wife said she stood by her husband and called his offending "negligent parenting".
The
tribunal decided to cancel the dentist's registration.It also imposed
the condition that the dentist must provide evidence that he had
competed a psychological treatment course, and a report that he was not a
risk to the public, if he was to apply for re-registration.
The
tribunal also said the dentist could not practice alone for three years
after his re-registration.He was censured and ordered to pay $5958 in
costs to the tribunal.
An Auckland man who spiked children's drinks with sleeping pills to sexually abuse them has been jailed for more than six years.
The
man, whose name was suppressed because it might identify one of his six
victims and his wife, approached North Shore police in May to disclose
eight and a half years of sexual offending.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to 20 charges - eight of which were for "stupefying".
The
40-year-old moved to New Zealand more than 15 years ago and was
prescribed Triazolam - a sleeping pill with hypnotic and sedative
properties - after struggling to sleep while doing shift work.
The
court heard how he would combine the medication with milkshakes
rendering children incapable of rebuffing his sexual advances.
And in one case, when two young girls were staying at his house, he spiked his wife's drink sending her to sleep.
While she was comatose, he did the same to the girls so he could lift their night gowns and look at their underwear.
The most serious offending came against a boy, who was 7 when the defendant "befriended" him.
He admitted grooming the boy for years, taking him on camping trips and helping with his homework.
By
the time the victim was 14, the pair would go camping where the man
plied him with whiskey and molested him on several occasions.
The
defendant had previous convictions for indecent assault of a girl and a
boy under the age of 12, for which he received a sentence of home
detention.
At sentencing, at the High Court in Auckland last week, Justice Brendan Brown said the man acknowledged his deviant urges.
"You describe yourself as having a sexual addiction which you are learning to control to prevent further offending," he said.
Justice
Brown jailed him for six years four months and recommended he be placed
on the Te Piriti child sex offender treatment programme at Auckland
Prison.
Probation assessed the 40-year-old as being a high risk of reoffending and harm to others.
The
judge rejected any sentence discount for remorse and highlighted the
fact the man had committed sex crimes for almost the entire time he had
lived in New Zealand.
He imposed a minimum-non-parole of three and a half years.
A fast food worker alleges she was forced to carry on working despite
suffering broken ribs and coughing up blood in front of customers.
The
incident has been described by a union as an "absolutely appalling"
example of the impact zero hours contracts have on staff across the
country.
Stephanie Phillips said she was admitted to hospital and
immediately placed on an IV drip with "half my lung filled with blood"
after working four hours at McDonald's in Orewa.
The staff member
who eventually let her leave was allegedly reprimanded for disobeying
orders for her to stay the full eight hour shift.
A McDonald's
spokesman said neither McDonald's nor the frachisee had been contacted
by the former employee or her union, Unite, regarding the alleged
incident.
"We question why Unite Union has chosen to raise the alleged incident via the media, rather than directly with us.
As always, we would investigate any claims put to us."
Ms
Phillips' story came to light at a Unite conference in Auckland today,
in advance of a new campaign against zero hours contracts.
The
union -- which represents the food service industry, casinos, call
centre and security staff -- said such contracts not only risked
workers' job and financial security, but also affected their personal
lives and created a climate of fear within the workplace.
Staff
were afraid to take sick days or turn down a shift for fear their roster
would be dramatically cut the following week. Some were forced onto
benefits because their work hours no longer covered the bills.
At the conference, one fast food worker stood up to say restaurant chains "ruled by fear".
Unite national director Mike Treen said such contracts were about companies holding power and control over staff.
"Because
you know that as a part-time worker that you've got to beg for those
shifts, you've got to suck up to management, that's the reality of life
that they want to impose on those workers when there is absolutely,
technically and otherwise, no reason for that.
"They can, and they should, give the vast majority of their staff secure hours."
Next
year the union would launch a campaign, dedicating 2015 to "putting an
end to zero hour contracts", and telling companies "no longer will they
be able to treat you like some disposable commodity".
Telling her
story, Ms Phillips said she had been told she was a "valued employee"
who could rise to management level, but when she broke three ribs and
punctured a lung she was expected to continue working.
She was
given an assurance that if she needed to leave work for medical reasons
she would be allowed to, she said, but that was not the case when she
started her shift one day by coughing up blood.
The stand-in manager tried to cover the shift, calling the restaurant manger for permission to send her home.
"He refused to let me go home," Ms Phillips told the packed hall.
"In total I did four hours, a customer saw me cough up blood ... They solved the problem by putting me on [back room duties]."
The stand-in manager eventually sent her home, but "got into a lot of trouble" for doing so.
"I got that week off work and I was still asked to cover shifts during that week," she said.
"They were ringing me at 5.30am saying, 'can you come in and work a shift at 6am?"'
Robert
Reid, national secretary of First Union, which has joined forces with
Unite to campaign against zero hours contracts, described the case as
"absolutely appalling", but said while it was an extreme example, it was
"not irregular".
"This sort of thing happens all the time," he said.
Restaurant
Brands, which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Carl's Jr in New Zealand,
said it appreciated the opportunity but would not be commenting. WHAT ARE ZERO HOURS CONTRACTS?
Zero
hours contracts are casual contracts which allow employers to hire
staff with no guarantee of work. Some contracts will have a minimum
number of hours, such as eight or 16 hours, but hours and days of work
can vary dramatically from week to week. Employees work only when they
are needed, often at short notice.
Employers argue this type of
contract provides flexibility to staff who often do not want to work
full-time hours, in industries which see a fluctuating demand for
services, such as hospitality and tourism.
Protesters swarmed the Auckland High Court today to take a stand against rape culture in New Zealand.
The National Day of Action to Bust Rape culture is
in its second year and organiser Jess Belle says the recent handling of
the Roast Busters case has sparked action nationwide.
"The catalyst for organising this was the very
public Roast Busters case and the outcry about it," says Ms Belle. "It
was a crack in the wall of silence around this issue and an opportunity
to push for change."
The Roast Busters case shocked the nation last year
after it was revealed a group of teenagers in Auckland allegedly got
underage girls drunk and sexually assaulted them.
Last month police announced they weren't going to
lay charges against the boys allegedly involved with the incidents
despite receiving multiple complaints.
This decision sparked another debate about rape culture in New Zealand.
Three women chained themselves to the front of the
Auckland Central Police Station earlier this month in protest against
the handling of the case.
Ms Belle believes the actions of the Roast Busters and the handling of the case is not unusual, it just had more publicity.
"When
we were coming up with a name for last year's march we didn't want to
centre the Roast Busters too much because that implies that they are
aberrations rather than a product of rape culture, which is the larger
issue we want to address."
Executive director of
Rape Prevention Education, Dr Kim McGregor, says the Law commission has
recommended a number of proposals for improving the justice system and
she is calling for it to be released to the public.
"At
the moment with current criminal justice system, rape survivors are the
only ones put on trial. Their cross examined by hostile defence
lawyers, while the defendant can sit there in silence and have his
defence lawyers brutalise the rape complainant."
Ms
Belle hopes the protest will help prompt changes that will make it
easier for victims of perpetrators of rape to face justice.
"New
Zealand hasn't had the imagination to deal with rape beyond either
ignoring it or, very rarely, incarcerating someone," she says. "Of 100
rapes, maybe one will result in a conviction."
A sister march is was also held in Wellington where more than 300 people were expected to attend.
By killing himself, my father denied me the relief of justice. That's why I can't remain silent about his abuse
Sexual
abuse happens in everyday homes; abusers aren’t untouchable
celebrities, they’re ordinary fathers, step-fathers, uncles. Speaking
out is the first step towards freedom
‘The only thing that kept me going was this overriding drive to not let him get away with it again’.Photograph: Greg Martin
Last Sunday, my dad killed himself.
It was a Remembrance Sunday I won’t forget, but not for the reasons
you might think. My father was not a nice man. Some people would say he
deserved to die for what he did, but I don’t believe in capital
punishment. I believe in justice. Justice, however, is a slippery fish.
And although the British judiciary system is often hailed as an
exemplar, it’s not always a fair cop.
So last Sunday, all I could think was “you bastard”. For nearly two
years, I’d been put through hell and back. I had endured brutalising
investigative and legal processes, not to mention a lifetime of
suffering as a result of having been sexually abused by him as a child,
to come this close to finally seeing him locked up in jail where he
belonged ... But then he went and did this.
Two years ago, the media was saturated with stories of Jimmy Savile
and the terrible crimes he committed as an untouchable celebrity
paedophile. The shocking nature of his depravity was splashed everywhere
– on TV, the radio, in all the papers – it was inescapable. For someone
like me who has tried so hard to bury my past (you can’t, it’s always
there), done my best to forget (it haunts you daily), run away from it
as far as I possibly could (it catches up and finds you) and move on (it
won’t let you), the media frenzy opened up deep wounds. But it also
made me realise that if I chose not to do anything, if I continued to
remain silent, my father would die too and get away with it. He was 73.
It felt like now or never. The author, aged seven.Photograph: Fi Read
My father wasn’t famous, but he was a respected academic believed to
be a fine upstanding citizen. To complicate matters, the abuse had
taken place halfway round the world more than 40 years ago. But it gave
me a glimmer of hope to know that it was still possible to have this
monster held accountable for his actions, and punished for what he did.
On 9 January 2013, I happened to be in Penzance’s police station
reporting the theft of my son’s bicycle. After filling in the relevant
forms, shaking like a leaf and in a half-strangled whisper, I somehow
managed to get the words out to say that there was something else. I
wanted to press charges against my father.
I didn’t know I was going to spill the beans that day; hadn’t
considered the legal ramifications fully, or the very real repercussions
it would have on my life – it just came out. Since then, I have
sometimes wished I’d stayed silent, as the price I’ve paid to speak the
truth has been phenomenally high.
The trauma of having to provide numerous statements and video
evidence and re-live the nightmare shook me to the core. I became
anxious, depressed, suffered from extreme insomnia. My partner of three
and a half years eventually dumped me as he couldn’t handle me being
“emotionally needy”, which sent me right over the edge. I spiralled into
bulimia again (I was anorexic and bulimic as a teenager), had a
complete mental breakdown, and even contemplated suicide myself, ringing
the Samaritans twice. But I’m a single parent of four and couldn’t bear
to do that to my children, even if they are all grown up now.
Small wonder so many women drop the charges, as the court process is
horrific, victimises you all over again, and as with the initial abuse,
leaves you feeling utterly powerless. The author as a child.Photograph: Fi Read
The only thing that kept me going was this overriding drive to not
let him get away with it again, and my own need to try to achieve some
sense of justice and closure.
The tyranny of distance meant Devon and Cornwall Police had to liaise
with Interpol before handing the case over to the South Australian vice
squad, so it wasn’t until June 2013 that he was actually arrested and
charged with persistent sexual abuse of a child. The offences included
inappropriate touching, kissing, digital penetration, fellatio,
cunnilingus and anal rape. This happened as I was between four and eight
years old.
He was released on bail. Then during the criminal investigation proceedings, three more victims came forth.
The prosecution process dragged on and on and on, with delay after
delay, adjournment after adjournment, until finally the trial was listed
for 13 January 2015. In August of this year, The attorney general’s
department informed me that he was prepared to plead guilty to the
charges in relation to me, but there were hold-ups due to legal
arguments concerning the other victims, as we were all part of a joint
case.
For me, my father’s guilt was crystal clear. I’d confronted him when I
was 16, and he’d admitted it. But being anorexic and depressed at the
time, I was not in a position to do anything with that knowledge. Sent
to see a shrink, I disclosed to this psychiatrist who did nothing, but
wrote me a script for heavy duty anti-depressants.
As a 12 year-old, I read virtually the entire collection of Agatha
Christie’s murder mystery novels (there are 66) in the hope of finding
the perfect way to kill him without getting caught. As an adult, I’d
kept waiting for the phone call saying he’d died, so I could pop the
champagne and shout “hurrah!” Since his arrest, however, I’d wanted him
to stay very much alive. To be found guilty in the eyes of the law,
incarcerated, and most importantly, named and shamed. As victims, the
very nature of our abuse silences us. This was my opportunity to finally
have a voice, to be heard, and for the truth to be told at long last.
But I was robbed. Just two months before having to face the music, he
took the cowardly route out. This was so not the outcome I’d
anticipated or hoped for. Had I gone through all this for him to be
marked by an insipid few lines in an obituary about how he “sadly passed
away aged 74”? I don’t think so. The author with her dad, aged 10.Photograph: Fi Read
My life has been a car crash. Ditto the other victims. It didn’t
seem fair. If this was justice, it was rough. And the others abused by
this man whom we don’t know about (I don’t doubt there are others as he
was a predatory paedophile) didn’t deserve it either.
So I went public. I contacted the press in Australia to ensure the
truth was told, and that the former dean of dentistry at Adelaide
University, professor Roger Joseph Smales, had taken his own life to
avoid facing multiple charges of persistent child sexual abuse. The
tragedy wasn’t this man’s suicide; the tragedy was the many lives he’d
wreaked havoc upon. Nobody should feel sorry for this man.
And if just one person who sees that article – either someone
assaulted by him or by another abuser – is able to gain some sense of
closure from this and that he didn’t, after all, get away with it, then I
have done the right thing. And if it prompts others to come forward
with their own injustices, then maybe there’s hope for us all.
Just because my dad wasn’t Rolf Harris doesn’t mean my story doesn’t
matter. Wherever and whenever child abuse occurs, it is wrong. The
reason why abuse continues to happen is because it’s a taboo subject
that no-one is prepared to talk about.
Coming forward as a victim is no picnic, believe me. It’s not
necessarily the path for everyone, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless
you have lots of support systems and networks in place, as it damn near
broke me. And clearly, the outcome isn’t always the outcome you’d
expect. Too often abusers are acquitted on technicalities, or because
the jury can’t come to a unanimous decision.
But if you or someone you know has been affected by similar issues,
then rape and sexual abuse centres might be a place to turn for help. My
local one, the Cornwall Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, was a lifeline at
the time: they offered me free counselling sessions when I needed them
most, and I was also part of a self-help group that they run
specifically for survivors of sexual abuse.
But mostly, it has been my amazing friends who have been there for me
through all this who kept me from going under, and I can never thank
them enough. And as one of them said to me, “now you are free”.
Due to the sensitive nature of this piece, the comments are being pre-moderated
A version of this article first appeared in The Cornishman
If you are a victim of sexual violence, you can contact 1800 737 732 (RESPECT) in Australia, RAINN in the US, Rape crisis in the UK. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 08457 90 90 90. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.
Cherie Howie is a reporter for the Herald on Sunday.
Woman to appeal against 'fun' bum slap ruling
A boss who slapped his employee's bottom has praised the Employment
Relations Authority for not automatically favouring the woman
complainant by finding it was not sexual harassment, but a "fun slap".
In
a judgment released this week, authority member Anna Fitzgibbon found
The Plant Place owner Bruce Sanson did not sexually harass former
employee Ella Newman.
This afternoon Newman responded that she was "disappointed ... but feeling strong" and would appeal.
The
23-year-old resigned the day after the December 2013 incident, and then
alleged Sanson had previously sexually harassed her during the two
years she worked at his Hamilton garden centre.
Fitzgibbon rejected those claims, calling Newman an unreliable witness and questioning why she did not complain earlier.
The December 2013 bottom slap was "inappropriate and should not be repeated" but took place during a joke, Fitzgibbon said.
"Ms
Newman was being cheeky about Mr Sanson's floppy hat and he slapped her
on the bottom. It was a one-off slap, which I accept was a 'fun slap'."
Mr Sanson told the Herald on Sunday the finding was "groundbreaking".
"I
assumed there would be too many precedents before it that would
disallow it [being thrown out]. I don't think many [sexual harassment]
cases get thrown out .. that was my only worry, that the girl would get
more believed than the guy."
The slap was his first and last to a woman.
"It
was something that just happened and you wished afterwards it probably
shouldn't have happened ... I always thought she was a good friend and
the relationship would've handled that."
The slap was "never a real case of sexual harassment".
"Wise
counsel should have been brought to bear and good advice given in the
earlier part of the year by people that should've known better than to
let it go on."
Other incidents alleged by Newman were not true.
They "bumped each other" in the small work space, but it wasn't sexual,
Sanson said.
"She wasn't my type."
The single dad of adult children had offered Newman her job back.
"I
still respect the girl. She's still a very good employee, I think it
was just a youthful mistake. I thought she would've managed the garden
centre within a year or two ... just because she's made a silly mistake
doesn't mean that she's a bad person."
Newman stood by all her complaints and said the Roger Sutton case had convinced her "that I need to fight on".
Sutton,
the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority chief executive, was
found to have committed serious misconduct after a female staff member
complained of unwanted hugs and comments.
Newman said she felt
"let down" by the authority. She had not complained about earlier
incidents - which she alleged included bottom slapping - because she
thought it might have been accidental.
She had glared at Sanson
to make her feelings clear and a text sent after her resignation showed
he knew what she was talking about, she said.
The "fun slap" was "unprovoked and forceful".
"I
had to go to the doctor. I cannot reconcile what a 'fun slap' is, let
alone in what ''context" an employer now seems to be able to do it ... I
am 23, he is 61. It is simply not appropriate in any context ... I
still can't understand how an employer can turn up to court, admit he
assaulted me by slapping my bottom, and walk away thinking he has done
nothing wrong."
Equal Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue said the Sutton affair put such behaviour in the spotlight.
"One of the things I would like to see come out of all of this is that woman should come forward," she said.
But she cautioned that incidents of a sexual nature had to meet a high threshold to be deemed as sexual harassment.
Sexual
harassment was usually a repeated incident, and if it was a one-off
incident it had to be quite significant and cause harm and detriment.
- additional reporting NZME.
I wrote to the Reporter .
Dear Cherie,
http://annchinchan.blogspot.co.nz/
Thank you for your article. I am the writer of "Cry the Oppressed Women", women suffer from FUN slaps, women suffer from smite remarks.
35 years ago, fresh from university, in my first job, a manager was a feely touchy type. Once he gave me a Fun Slap on my bottom, I was very upset and couldn't concentrate on my work. Eventually, I went to his office and told him never to do it again.
If it had happened today, I would have sued him for sexual harassment.
File photo / Christine Cornege 
