Preventive detention assessment for sex offender
The Crown may consider preventive detention for a repeat sex offender who admitted an indecency charge in the High Court at Christchurch today.
The 48-year-old Christchurch man, Mana Tengu Tamaiparea, has previous convictions for serious violent and sexual offences and was released from prison in late 2001.
But when the Crown raised the issue, Justice Christian Whata said the previous offending dated back 30 years.
“It is not for me to make any sort of indication now,” he said. “He doesn’t stand out as a candidate for preventive detention, but that is for the Crown to assess.”
Tamaiparea had been scheduled for trial but pleaded guilty today to a charge of indecent assault on a girl aged between 12 and 16. The charge refers to touching of the girl’s breasts and genitals.
Crown prosecutor Chris Newman asked for the judge to order reports by two health assessors, who are usually a psychologist and a psychiatrist, to assess Tamaiparea’s risk of further offending.
The Crown will then consider the reports and decide whether to ask the court for an open-ended preventive detention sentence that would keep Tamaiparea in prison until he no longer posed a risk to the community.
Defence counsel Allister Davis said he could not oppose the application but he raised the question of the cost of having the reports done. “I can’t see this application is going to fly,” he said.
Justice Whata called for the reports, but commented: “I does seem a rather extreme suggestion, based on the history I have seen.”
He gave Tamaiparea a first-strike warning under the system that imposes heavier penalties on repeat violent or sexual offenders.
He then called for a pre-sentence report and remanded him in custody for sentence on February 5.
Category: Focus
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