SUPREME COURT Three-year prison term imposed for rape

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 20

SUPREME COURT Three-year prison term imposed for rape

A man. serving a six-year i prison sentence for aggravated robbery at Lyttelton, was sentenced to a further jthree years gaol by Mr Jusi tice Roper in the* Supreme I Court yesterday, and was . warned that he was liable to :be sentenced to preventive ; detention (seven years to I life) if he committed anv [further sexual offences. The man, Bunny Friday Harrison, aged 32, appeared for sentence on charges of rape of a woman, aged ?3; indecent assault on a girl, aged 17; assault on Michael I Maurice Bailey; and attempting by threats to dissuade Mr Bailey from giving evidence.

Mr A. C. Hughes-Johnson, who appeared for Harrison on the rape count, said that the prisoner had a very long

ilist of convictions and had ■ been warned that he was eli- ,: gibie for preventive deten- ■ tion. Counsel submitted that I that sentence . was inappropriate, as it was always revgarded as a last resort, bei cause of its ‘'awful severity” i — a prisoner never knew ' when he would be released. It was not a bad case of ; rape, submitted Mr HughesIJohnson. There could not be much sympathy for the woman because the company she kept made it almost [inevitable that she would be [raped. She was grossly intoxicated when the offence

! was committed. His Honour said that Harrison and his friends fpd .[walked in and ‘‘taken over” i the flat where the woman . was living. , Mr Mi J. Glue, who ap-l peared for Harrison on thei indecent assault count, said! that the probation officer had said that the prisoner drank to excess, which brought on a need for immediate sexual satisfaction. It was a relatively minor charge, and the girl was not hurt. His Honour said that he did not regard Harrison as the leading figure in the intimidation of the witness. Of) the las.t 12 years. Harrison u

i,had spent nine and a half in -i prison, and was only re--ueased in December, 1974, 11 after serving three years tor -[aggravated robbery — and ■ [ within two months he had ■. committed the present series '[of offences. In 1971, he had .'‘been warned that he was eligible for preventive detenf tion, but apparently that did . not appear to concern him. “1 do not propose to sen- > i fence you to preventive de- ■[ tention .at this stage, but rlyou are going to have a •[long time to reflect on the ' possibility,” his Honour told i[nim. T again warn you that [you are liable for preventive detention, and that is what 11 you will get if you commit any further sexual offences. i. ‘The protection of the . public is obviously para- [ mount, but I think it can be i met by a finite gaol term,” [his Honour said. Harrison was imprisoned for three years on the rape: count, the sentence cumulative on his present term of six years. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on the count of indecent as* sault, and to six months on the counts of assault and threatening a witness, all these terms concurrent with that imposed on the rape i charge.