May 19, 2010

1965 sex offending catches up with elderly man

Sex offending against a small girl 45 years ago has caught up with 76-year-old Dale Keith John Edwards.

The New Brighton man is now frail after suffering a stroke in 2006.

As soon as the police approached him after the woman?s complaint recently, he admitted the historic offending and pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to charges of indecency with a girl aged under 12, and one charge of having sex with the same girl.

The victim, now in her 50s, was in court when Judge Jane Farish sentenced Edwards today.

Defence counsel Richard Peters urged that home detention be imposed.

Crown prosecutor Deidre Orchard said she regarded Edwards? infirmities as relatively minor, and nothing much more than might be expected for a person of his age.

She also accused him of having a selective memory and ?an obvious reluctance to open his mind to the realities of this offending?.

Judge Farish said the offending against the 11-year-old girl took place in 1965 when he was aged 30.

She told the woman the offending had been pervasive. ?The effects of the offending were severe and all too familiar to the court ? guilt, shame, and an inability to discuss the feelings you had.?

She said: ?It may take some time for Edwards to appreciate the effects of his offending.?

She noted he had a prior conviction for sexual offending involving a young boy in 1962, when he was released on probation for a year.

There had been no reports of sexually inappropriate behaviour by him since 1965.

She said a doctor?s report suggested a prison term would increase his fall risk, and would be likely to cause deterioration in his memory.

The judge said she had to take into account the scale of sentences imposed for this type of offending in the 1960s, which was lower than the present level.

She allowed sentence reductions for his guilty pleas and other factors, and said home detention was appropriate. She believed Edwards no longer posed a risk.

She imposed an eight month term of home detention and ordered Edwards to undertake psychological counselling ?so that you gain some understanding of the effects and the harm of the sexual offending in relation to this young woman?.

She then thanked the victim for attending the sentencing.