Serial sex offender to spend at least 10 years in jail

8:45 pm on 8 November 2016

A repeat child sex offender giggled as the Crown prosecutor made submissions on potentially jailing him for the rest of his life.

Entrance to the High Court in Auckland

Entrance to the High Court in Auckland Photo: justice.govt.nz

Iosua Chan Kee, 72, was today sentenced in the High Court in Auckland to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

The sentence means that Chan Kee will only be released from prison if he can prove that he no longer poses a risk to the community.

Crown prosecutor Luke Clancy set out the extent of Chan Kee's offending, which included repeatedly raping a young girl over five years at home, work and in the back of his car in a secluded part of a cemetery.

It began shortly after Chan Kee got out of prison after serving a nine year prison sentence for similar offending against other girls, described by the judge at the time as incomprehensibly appalling.

"Mr Chan Kee continues to display absolutely no remorse whatsoever for his offending. He continues to simply deny it, including, somewhat preposterously at this stage, the 1990s offending.

"There's a suggestion that he continues to say that was a consensual relationship, not-with-standing his having served a very substantial term of imprisonment."

Mr Clancy told the court that if it rejected the Crown's bid for preventive detention, then Chan Kee should be jailed for 17 years.

Chan Kee's lawyer, Hugh Leabourn, disagreed.

"I know it's not traditional, sir, from the defence perspective, to endorse preventive detention because it has that rather draconian sound of it being potentially incarcerated for the rest of your life until such time as the Minister of Justice finds it appropriate that you can be released, but my submissions are geared that, in essence here, preventive detention may in fact be more suitable, not only to Mr Chan Kee but to the community."

He said a lengthy sentence could result in Chan Kee having no prospect of ever getting out of prison.

Mr Leabourn told the court Chan Kee had expressed sadness at what had occurred and the effect on the children.

"He did express that to me in his own and slightly different way."

Justice Gilbert cut in: "He takes no accountability. He accepts no responsibility for his position, does he? You can't really talk about this in terms of remorse and he actually blames the victims."

The judge said Chan Kee had gone so far as to accuse the victims of conspiring against him.

In sentencing, Justice Gilbert said the damage done to one of the victims would likely remain with her for the rest of her life.

"You exploited her naivety and cynically groomed her for your selfish needs. You robbed her for her innocence and sexually preyed on her whenever you wanted, throughout her teenage years. Your offending was so regular and prolonged that it became normal to her."

He said Chan Kee had refused to get rehabilitation in his previous sentence and remained a high-risk of reoffending.

"In my view a sentence of preventive detention is required to protect the community. Such a sentence has the advantage that it might motivate you to seek treatment to address the underlying causes of your offending."

Chan Kee waved to a woman in the back of the court as he was led into the cells.