19 Dec 2014

Victim's evidence 'will be hard to forget'

7:34 pm on 19 December 2014

A judge says no one will be able to forget the evidence of a woman who was plucked off an Auckland street, stripped and shackled in a basement, before sexually abused.

Today a high-profile businessman with name suppression was [ http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/262199/man-jailed-15-years-for-sex-offences jailed] for 15 years for sexual violation and plying girls with methamphetamine for sex.

Judge Russell Collins also imposed a minimum term of eight years before he is considered for parole because of his high-risk of re-offending.

The Crown prosecutor Jo Murdoch described him as a man who used his position of authority and his money to prey on vulnerable young women.

Judge Collins said of the 15 charges, the leading offence was the sexual violation of a woman in her 20s who he referred to as "K".

She was a methamphetamine addict and on the streets of Auckland when the man's associates picked her up.

She was taken to his business address and into the basement which she referred to as the "dungeon".

She was punched in the face, stripped, and put in a neck collar and leg irons.

The woman was then subjected to about two hours of sexual abuse and at one point she begged the man to rape her just so her ordeal would be over.

His response was to tell her she looked beautiful when she cried.

Ms Murdoch said the experience changed the woman's life forever

The man continued to exert his control over his victim by sending text messages to her a year later.

Judge Collins said it was fair to say anyone who heard the woman's testimony will never forget it.

The court also heard there were two younger victims as well.

The businessman used a young woman to find the other young girls who would do sex acts on him for methamphetamine.

She also has name suppression and she would be sentenced in March

Judge Collins said the victim impact statements made disturbing reading.

He said the parents of the girls blamed themselves for what had happened but Judge Collins said he hoped society was mature enough to realise this offending was beyond their influence.

It was only when Judge Collins asked about a possible reparation payment from the man that he piped up from the dock and said he would be willing to give his victims some money.

But that was too little, too late for the Judge.

He said the man showed no signs of remorse.

The man's lawyer Mark Ryan said he hoped his client would complete the sex offender programmes in prison.

He also pointed out his client had gone to rehab for his methamphetamine addiction.

Judge Collins said the man had a high risk of re-offending and if all the offending was added together the man could get a sentence of 26 years.

But the Judge said he had to step back and look at the offending in its totality.

He came to the end sentence of 15 years in prison with a minimum of 8 years non-parole.