Sex nuisance put behind bars again
Peter James Ashwell’s nuisance sex offending continues – and so does his jail time.
He pleaded guilty yesterday to wilfully doing an indecent act in a public place – Mona Vale’s rose garden.
Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan remanded him in custody to September 30 for a probation report and sentence.
Ashwell, 35, wanted to be sentenced straight away, but the judge wanted more information and an assessment for home detention.
Home detention seems fairly unlikely. Ashwell has a history of not having a home, spending much of his life between the City Mission when he’s at liberty, and Christchurch Men’s Prison when he’s not.
It also seems unlikely because he was also convicted yesterday for breaching his bail, and for breaching his prison release conditions by not reporting to his probation officer.
That all counts against home detention.
He has a record of “dumpster diving” outside a supermarket in the red zone after the earthquakes.
He was jailed for six months in 2011 for exposing himself to school girls in Little Hagley Park.
He told police on that occasion that he would not have raped the girls but would “hold them down, and if they cried that would be all right”.
There are prior convictions for not doing his community work, being unlawfully in a yard, and shoplifting – mainly taking food from shops.
The court was told in 2012 that Ashwell had not worked since he was 18, apart from a little gardening or labouring.
Yesterday, the court was told he was in Mona Vale’s rose garden about 4.45pm on August 8, at a time when it was open to the public, including children.
He was seen masturbating on a park bench, with a woollen blanket covering himself. He was seen by a member of the public who was walking a dog.
When the police spoke to him, Ashwell said he was not making a public scene but just keeping warm under the blanket.
In court, he did his best to tell the judge that the offending arose from “reading magazines”.
Category: Focus
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