Cold case DNA match brings rape conviction
A former New Zealand representative wrestler, 49-year-old Devon Charles Bond, admitted the kidnap and rape of a woman in Burwood in 1994, after a cold case DNA match.
Bond today pleaded guilty in the High Court at Christchurch on the morning when his jury trial was due to begin.
The Crown will ask the court to consider an open-ended preventive detention sentence because Bond has a 1995 conviction for abducting a woman he put into the boot of his car.
The court was told that the 42-year-old Burwood victim was alone at her home on May 9 when Bond turned her mains power off in the garage.
She walked through the house and as she was in the hallway the Bond came through the internal access door leading from the garage.
He had a mask or balaclava covering his face and head, and held a knife.
Bond walked the victim back to her bedroom and held the knife against her throat, pushing her onto the bed.
He told her to put her hands behind her back and used a portion of cord cut from the clothesline to tie her hands together, and put a pillow case over her head.
He sexually violated her with his fingers and tongue, and then raped her.
Bond went into the kitchen and took her handbag contents, and pulled the telephone cord out, before leaving the house.
Bond was not located until December 2014 through a cold case DNA match, and he was charged with burglary of a house while armed with a knife, assaulting the woman while armed with a knife, kidnapping her with intent to have sex, two charges of sexual violation, and rape.
He admitted these charges today.
Crown prosecutor Claire Bouchier asked Justice David Gendall for a report considering preventive detention for Bond, who already had a conviction and served a prison term for abducting a woman jogger on May 30, 1995. He grabbed the woman and put her in the boot of his car, but she managed to release the boot lock and escape the moving car. He was sentenced on a charge of abducting her with the intention of having sexual intercourse.
Justice Gendall convicted Bond, and remanded him in custody for sentencing on July 28. He asked for a pre-sentence report and for the two health assessors’ reports that are needed to consider preventive detention.
Category: Focus
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