Thursday, December 4, 2014

Ex-Air Force sergeant found guilty of rape

Ex-Air Force sergeant found guilty of rape

Robert Richard Roper was found guilty at Auckland District Court. Photo / File
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.
- NZME.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Dentist has registration cancelled after sexual offences


Sophie Ryan

Sophie Ryan is an NZME. News Service reporter.

Dentist has registration cancelled after sexual offences

The dentist said his offending had been a 'lapse of judgment', and his actions weren't sexually motivated. Photo / Thinkstock
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.
- NZME.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Man who spiked children's drinks

Man who spiked children's drinks with sleeping pills jailed

File photo / NZ Herald
File photo / NZ Herald
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.
- NZME.

Fast food worker: 'They refused to let me go home'


Fast food worker: 'They refused to let me go home'

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11367152

File photo / Christine Cornege File photo / Christine Cornege

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.
- NZME.