Man ‘harmed the lives of young children’

Press, 4 March 1989, Page 6

Man ‘harmed the lives of young children’

A man, aged 36, was told he had seriously harmed the lives of several young children, before being sentenced to seven years imprisonment by Mr Justice Holland in the High Court yesterday.

His Honour told the West Coast man, “I don’t find the sentence I impose upon you gives me any pleasure. In my view you are sick. You are in need of treatment and you desperately need help.” The man, whose name was suppressed to protect the reputations of the children, had been found guilty by a jury on six charges after a four-day trial last week. His Honour said, “You have seriously harmed the lives of a number of young children. The community requires punishment.” He sentenced the man to a year’s imprisonment for inducing a girl aged under 12 to do an indecent act upon him, six years imprisonment for the rape of the same girl.

and a year’s imprisonment for indecently assaulting two other girls, aged under 12. These prison terms were to be served concurrently, but an additional year’s jail was imposed on two charges that being a male he indecently assaulted a boy under 12, one of his own children. Counsel, Mr Peter Dyhrberg, said the man continued to proclaim his innocence. There was no evidence of actual violence, although there were threats of violence, he said. To an adult, these threats would have sounded fantastical, but they might have appeared very differently to young persons. Except for these events, the man had led a relatively blameless life. He had now found a partner with whom he was able to settle on a much more contented and lasting basis, Mr Dyhrberg said. The accused was al-

lowed to make his own statement to the Court, and he said, “I want you to know I am innocent of these allegations and that I wish an inquiry to go into the children’s counselling.” His Honour said, “Your denial of guilt, which has been continued, makes any suggestions about reform and treatment at this stage to be somewhat inappropriate. “In view of the statement you have just made from the dock, I should say that the verdicts, in. so far as they found you guilty, are verdicts in which I entirely agree having heard the evidence.” It was not unusual for a Judge to have to sentence a person who still maintained his innocence, he said. “Your counsel has pointed out that you have done well in life from a fairly difficult upbringing and you are to be commended for that. That is not unusual in cases like this,” he said.