30 Sep 2011

Sex offender sentenced to preventive detention

9:10 pm on 30 September 2011

A man jailed at least three times for sexual offending has begun serving an indefinite prison term following his latest attack on a teenager.

Shane Stoneham was sentenced to preventive detention when he appeared in the Wellington High Court on Friday on one charge of sexual connection with a girl under 16 and three charges of breaching an extended supervision order.

The 27-year-old must spend at least five years behind bars.

Stoneham had been under close supervision in the community following earlier sexual offending, the victims of which included a four-year-old girl.

During this time he met a 13-year-old on a chatline and proposed to her when they first met.

Despite a warning from his probation officer, Stoneham continued the relationship and the girl was discovered in his bed in November last year.

Justice Ron Young quoted from a psychologist's report which described Stoneham as having a sense of entitlement, an egocentric focus on getting his own wants satisfied and a lack of empathy for others.

The judge said an indefinite sentence, preventive detention, was needed to protect children and young women from Stoneham.