Aged sex offender gets open-ended jail sentence
File image. © Andrew Bardwell
A man with a long history of child sex abuse has been handed an open-ended preventive detention jail sentence at the age of 63.
David Stanley Tranter cannot be released until he is assessed as no longer posing a risk to the community – an assessment that rates him as a “very high risk” at present.
At the sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch, Justice Christian Whata imposed a minimum term of five years before Tranter can be considered for parole.
He also imposed a 10-year term on the latest set of sex offences on which Tranter was found guilty by a jury in November: sodomy, inducing an indecent act, indecent assault, two of rape, and one of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
The offending involved two children, a boy and a girl, who gave evidence as adults of having been sexually abused more than 20 years ago.
Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said: “It is a clear and compelling case for preventive detention given the prisoner’s attitude towards his offending and his attitude to rehabilitation.”
Tranter has had two failed attempts to do the Kia Marama course for child sex offenders, while serving previous prison terms.
“This really is one of those cases where there’s a very clear pathway in terms of protection for the community,” said Mrs Elsmore.
She said the effects on the child victims had been extreme and the victim impact statements made very distressing reading.
Defence counsel Lee Lee Heah urged that a finite prison term be imposed instead of preventive detention, saying that he said that although he had not completed the rehabilitation courses he had learned valuable lessons which he had tried to apply after his release.
She urged that his sentence be reduced because of his age and his ill health. Scans of his liver and kidneys done a month ago showed tumours or cysts.
Justice Whata referred to Tranter’s “lifetime of criminal activity”. His criminal history lists 49 previous convictions, including eight for sexual offending and eight for violence.
He had a childhood that involved experiencing or witnessing severe physical or emotional abuse. He had been rejected by his father. He had had no recent contact with his family and had been an alcoholic for a time.
Justice Whata said Tranter had been jailed for sex offending in 2000, and again in 2004 for an indecent assault on a 16-year-old girl walking on the street in Christchurch.
When he was released from jail under an extended supervision order in 2007 he had absconded after a few months and had gone to the Philippines where he said he lived with his wife and a child. The wife had died in recent flooding in the Philippines.
He was extradited to New Zealand on passport charges in 2010.
Justice Whata said there had been 11 psychological reports done on Tranter during the course of his offending.
He noted that the latest psychological report in March said Tranter posed a significant risk of further sexual offending. The pre-sentence report said he was a very high risk, had no interest in changing, refused to discuss the current offending, and had no empathy with the victims.
“I am satisfied that you qualify for the sentence of preventive detention,” said the judge.
Category: Focus
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