July 15, 2010

Jail term follows disastrous seduction

Language difficulties cited at sentencing

A Chinese student’s disastrous seduction attempt has brought him a two-year one-month jail term.

Bo Yuan, described by Judge Raoul Neave as “an innocent 20-year-old”, was found guilty of attempted rape at a Christchurch District Court jury trial.

Yuan’s studies in New Zealand have now come to an abrupt end and he will be deported to China when he is released from prison.

The effects of the conviction were likely to be devastating and the judge said he suspected the shame would follow Yuan for the rest of his life.

Defence counsel Bryan Green said home detention had not been seen as an option because Yuan was living in a hostel. He suggested the judge should take into account Yuan’s age and “general innocence” and the difficulties and isolation he would face in prison.

Yuan had an interpreter assisting him in court, and it was clear that language difficulties had figured in the offending.

Judge Neave said Yuan had invited the woman to his house “almost certainly in the hope of what might be called a seduction”.

At the outset there had been some consensual physical activity, but the relative innocence of the two people involved made an unhappy combination compounded by the cultural differences.

The young woman thought she had withdrawn her consent, saying: “We should not be doing this.” He did not criticise her but he said there had been some ambiguity in the language she used to revoke the consent.

“It seems the message simply didn’t get across,” said the judge. “You simply failed to read the signs that are so clear to us now in hindsight.”

He described the incident as “a tragedy all around”.

The young woman had been extremely distressed, but had strong family support and was now trying to rebuild her life.

Judge Neave said that in setting the sentence he was entitled to take into account the difficulties Yuan would face in prison, the effects on his life and career, and his age and circumstances as “an innocent 20-year-old”.

But he said at the sentencing today: “People have the right to set limits on their sexual conduct and say when they gone further than they feel comfortable, and that is exactly what has happened here.”