Term for violating girl, 12, quashed

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 5

Term for violating girl, 12, quashed

PA Wellington A man jailed for sexual violation of a girl, aged 12, has had the sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal and a 12 months community care programme substituted. The Court comprised Mr Justice Cooke, Mr Justice Casey and Mr Justice Bisson. Delivering the judgment, Mr Justice Casey said Trevor James Adams, aged 29, had pleaded guilty to sexual violation and was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland on June 10 to 18 months imprisonment. His Honour said the girl concerned was aged 12 at the time. It was clear from the full and sympathetic reports supplied to the Court, and which were before the sentencing judge, that Adams had a very limited intellectual capacity. The psychiatric report confirmed this and also indicated that Adams had

very little appreciation of the seriousness of the conduct, which had now been brought home to him. His Hdnour said the provision in section 1288 (2) of the Crimes Act after stipulating that everyone convicted of sexual violation should be sentenced to imprisonment continued “unless, having regard to the particular circumstances of the offence or of the offender, including the nature of the conduct constituting the offence, the Court is of the opinion that the offender should not be so sentenced.” “We are satisfied that this is one of the rare cases of offending of this nature against young children where effect can be given to the proviso in subsection 2,” his Honour said. “And that the appropriate sentence in this case would have been one of community care under section 53 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1955.”