Judge upset at sending sex offender to jail

A Christchurch Judge was visibly upset at sending a young man to jail for the assault and attempted rape of an Australian visitor. When he lured the women down a dark alley with an expectation of sex, the women rebuffed him. The judge thinks this caused him to snap...and the assault began and ended only when the women managed to break free and run away.

"If I had my way I would release you today, but I can't."

Words that would surely hurt the victim even further. Compassion for the culprit is admirable, but the victim deserves some compassion and understanding too. They deserve justice.

If the issue is that prison is a bad environment to effect rehabilitation, then let's fix that. The current mode of thinking is that violent offenders are released early to a "supportive" family who are not trained or skilled in rehabilitation. And given this person chalked up 5 offenses in a few months, one could argue the family environment wasn't supportive enough to keep him from going off the rails.

A visibly upset judge today told a Masterton teenager convicted of sexual violation: "If I had my way I would release you today, but I can't."

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish spoke of the youth, naivety, and the good family background of Maia Crawford Rongonui who had attacked a young Australian woman tourist in a dark Christchurch street.

"If I had it within my power today I would release you to your family," the judge said.

"They would ensure you would do anything not to come back to court."

Instead, she jailed the 19-year-old for four years after he was convicted by a jury of assaulting the woman with intent to commit rape, and sexually violating her by unlawful sexual connection.

Rongonui, a shearer from Masterton, was only 17 when he committed the attack.

The judge said she was worried about the effect prison would have on the teenager.

"I have some concerns, as your mother does, about you being corrupted while in jail."

She hoped the Parole Board would quickly consider his release to the community and his family.

Mrs Thomas said she believed Rongonui still did not fully accept what had happened, and the crown believed the attack had been premeditated. Judge Farish did not accept that.

She accepted the victim was vulnerable because she was a visitor to Christchurch, who had lost her way and become separated from her friends. Rongonui was friendly and offered to show her the way to her backpackers' hostel. Instead, he led her down a dark inner city street, Aberdeen Street off Manchester Street.

Judge Farish said she believed Rongonui had been hopeful of a sexual encounter, and something snapped when the woman rebuffed him. He punched her and kicked her as well as trying to remove her pants. The woman fought back and was able to escape, but semen from Rongonui was found on her clothing.

Mrs Thomas told the court the woman - now a student living on Queensland's Gold Coast - had significant and ongoing effects from the attack.

Defence counsel Simon Shamy said Rongonui had been an immature 17-year-old at the time of the offence...But he had inexplicably come to the attention of the authorities at the age of 17, amassing 18 convictions over five months, including the two today.

Related Link: Victimless Crimes