Four-year term for sex assaults on sleeping women
A 22-year-old Christchurch man has been jailed for four years for sexual assaults on two sleeping women.
Both assaults occurred when Joshua Jackson was allowed to sleep on the women’s beds after parties.
A large group of family and supporters was present for Jackson’s Christchurch District Court sentencing by Judge David Saunders.
They called out messages of love and encouragement as he was taken away to begin his jail term.
Defence counsel Craig Ruane told the court: “He is somewhat overwhelmed by the consequences of his behavior which have been very much brought home to him by the contents of the women’s victim impact statements.”
He described Jackson as an inarticulate man who would have difficulty writing letters of apology, but he was remorseful. Jackson had immediately admitted the offending. “These are misjudgments by him of what the situation was.”
Although he had three pages listing his previous convictions, there was nothing of this sort and prison was a daunting prospect.
The first assault occurred in 2012 when a woman in a bed where Jackson had been allowed to sleep-over after a party, woke to find that he was touching her genitals.
In 2013, after sleeping over on a woman’s bed at another party, a woman who had gone to bed fully clothed woke to find that part of her clothing had been removed and Jackson was having anal intercourse with her. She received injuries from the assault.
He pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
The judge said one of the women had allowed him to “crash” on her bed but that was as far as her consent went. It was not unusual for people to share a bed after a party but it was not an invitation to have a sexual relationship.
The judge said alcohol was a primary factor in the offending, but it was not a mitigating factor.
He reduced Jackson’s sentence for his guilty plea and expressions of remorse and imposed concurrent sentences totalling four years.
“You need to address your tendency to abuse alcohol and drugs. I recommend that you be considered for the appropriate programme during the sentence,” said the judge.
Category: Focus
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