Woman jailed for savagery

Press, 2 November 1981, Page 13

Woman jailed for savagery

b A Auckland < The prime instigator of an lour-long physical and sexual attack on a young jvoman was jailed for five tears when she appeared in,:ne High Court at Auckland yesterday. •’ Elizabeth Ruakaura Te Huna, aged 23, a sickness Beneficiary of Auckland, had, as a child, witnessed the rnurder of her mother, the Consequent suicide of her father, and had been sexually Assaulted by a member of /her extended family, ' the 'Court was told. According to a psychiatrist's report, Te Huna was devoid of moral and social insights and had. a marked personality disorder, said Mr Justice Chilwell. 5 Te Huna was appearing for sentence with Nigel Peter John Donovan, aged 19, and Stephen Paul Latimer, aged 20, both unemployed, of Te Atatu, for their part in an attack on a young .woman last May. After a 10-day trial, DohoIvan and Te Huna had been : found guilty on four counts: i injuring with intent to cause '-grievous bodily harm, attempted rape, indecent assault, and as parties to indecent assault.

Latimer had been found guilty on one count of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and as a party to indecent assault. His Honour said the complainant had been “beaten, sexually assaulted and terrorised by a group of young people acting as if every element of decency was missing, and every element of savagery present.” The attack began outside a nightclub in Rutland .Street when Te Huna accused the complainant of having some connection with the solving of. the Myers Park murder case in which a young girl called “Cooky” died. When the complainant denied any involvement and said that Te Huna must have mistaken her for someone else, Te Huna and several other young women started to assault.her. Three or four young men joined in, said his Honour. The . young woman was physically and sexually assaulted by both the men and women in a shrub 'area by the library in Rutland Street, at a triangle of trees in Wellesley Street, and again at the bottom of Albert Park. < One male tried to have

sexual intercourse with her and another did. His Honour said that Te Huna, encouraged by one of the men, had tried to throttle the young woman, but the police arrive. Six young people had been arrested, but three other women were not committed for trial because there had been insufficient evidence against them. Sentencing Te Huna to five years jail on each count, his Honour said he accepted everything that had been c

inging. No-one could feel anything but extreme sympathy for the way in which she had-been brought up. But she had been the prime mover of what had happened and a substantial period of confinement was in the public interest. He ordered that Te Huna be directed to the prison psychiatric services. Donovan was sentenced to two years and a jalf jail and Latimer to 18 months on each count. All the prison terms are to be served concurrently.