The man was found guilty by a jury at Auckland District Court. File photo
The man was found guilty by a jury at Auckland District Court. File photo
A man who murdered his partner and was released on parole after 12 years in jail is back behind bars after having sex with a teenage girl.
The man in his 50s who cannot be named - to ensure the victim is protected - started a relationship with a Waikato woman a couple of years after getting out of prison.
Soon after moving in with her, her 16-year-old daughter joined them because she was having trouble with her father and had nowhere else to go.
Eventually the convicted murderer moved into his own place and the teen joined him.
On his birthday he asked her to dress up "like a blonde Japanese schoolgirl" and had sex with her in a caravan.
The victim told police she felt like she had no choice.
She drank alcohol with the man in the hope that "would make it go away" but the offending was repeated on several occasions.
Despite the girl being old enough to legally consent to sex, the man was charged with two counts of sexual connection with a dependant family member.
He defended the matter at an Auckland District Court trial but was found guilty by a jury.
It came before the High Court at Auckland this morning because Judge Nevin Dawson believed the man may qualify for a sentence of preventive detention.
Crown prosecutor Sam McMullan did not pursue that course but said the behaviour fitted into a pattern.
"The defendant has shown throughout his offending and relationship history that he's an overbearing and, at times, manipulative partner," he said.
The prosecutor also told the court there were sexual elements to the murder of his partner more than 20 years earlier.
He accepted though that the defendant was prepared to address his alcohol issues, which had been a trigger behind the crimes.
Justice Geoffrey Venning said that was the only mitigating factor before the court and that there was no obvious empathy or insight into the sexual offending.
Since being paroled on the murder count, the man had racked up three convictions and the judge said there were serious impulse-control issues.
NZME News Service requested a copy of the Parole Board's decision to first release the man into the community but a spokesman said it was too long ago.
Justice Venning sentenced the defendant to four and a half years prison and ordered he must serve half of that before being considered for parole again.
"With your background there's a need to protect the community from you," he said.
- NZ Herald