October 27, 2011

Prison term for bed 'invasion'

By Anne Clarkson at the Rangiora Court House

A man climbed through a window, got into bed with a woman he knew, and then fled when she asked if he was going to rape her.

Shodie Milne, 35, has now begin a prison term after his Christchurch District Court sentencing at the Rangiora Court House.

He climbed through a bathroom window at the woman?s house at 5am on a day last December, and got into bed with the woman who had been asleep.

The woman thought he was her boyfriend, but after some physical advances she realised it was someone else and asked who he was.

She got upset and asked him to leave but he held her down while kissing her mouth and neck. He indecently assaulted her, and when she broke free and reached for her mobile phone he fled.

Defence counsel Peter Dyhrberg said Milne had a head injury history, and was drunk at the time.

He fully realised what he had done, and there was no chance it could recur, he said.

Milne was remorseful, and had abstained from alcohol and pills since this event. He wanted to engage in a restorative justice conference if the woman would agree.

Judge Alistair Garland said Milne was being sentenced for burglary and indecent assault, and admitted to the police that he had gone to the address for sex.

He said the woman?s victim impact report said she had scratches and bruises on her back and arms, and was worried when she was by herself. She was struggling at night-time, and kept waking up. She had since broken up with her boyfriend, and had shifted address as she did not feel safe in her home and it had too many bad memories. She said it was not okay for Milne to behave like that.

Milne?s probation report said substance abuse was an issue, but he intended to remain abstinent. He was extremely intoxicated, and had consumed party pills, and hated what he had done. He told the report writer that he would like the woman to know that he was not trying to hurt her, the report said.

Judge Garland said the woman asked him if he was going to rape her, and he then realised that she was not consenting and fled the scene.

He said sex and violence were involved, after a home invasion, and extended harm had been done to the victim.

He sentenced Milne to two years one month in prison and read him the first warning under the Government?s three strikes law that imposes heavier penalties on repeat violent offenders.