August 31, 2012

Convicted sex predator jailed for 20 years

By David Clarkson

A sex predator who preyed on runaway teenage boys can finally been named as former teacher and busker Graeme Andrew Joblin as he begins a 20-year prison term.

Joblin, a 56-year-old who sometimes befriended boys as he busked in central Christchurch, had interim suppression all through his nine-day Christchurch District Court trial, but it was lifted today by Judge Jane Farish at his sentencing.

She imposed a minimum non-parole term of seven years and told Joblin: ?This offending could be described as depraved in the extreme.?

The offending involved grooming vulnerable boys, plying them with alcohol and cannabis, and then involved indecent assaults, oral sex, anal rape, and digital penetration.

The jury found him guilty on 25 charges relating to 10 victims ? two in Wellington from 1978-81, and eight in Christchurch.

Two of the convictions for indecent assault have had to be dropped since the verdict because of a technical difficulty with the charges.

The man was sentenced on 23 charges: five charges of supplying cannabis to his young victims, and charges of doing indecent acts with the boys, inducing them to do indecent acts, sodomy, sexual violation, and indecent assault. The victims were aged from 13 to 17 years at the time. A jury found him guilty on these charges at the end of a nine-day District Court trial.

One victim read his victim impact statement in court and told of being befriended by Joblin and offered a place to stay while he was a vulnerable teenage runaway. He was plied with cannabis and alcohol and felt obliged to provide sexual favours in order to stay there. Some time after refusing these favours, Joblin had raped him.

Another told of being sexually abused by Joblin when he was a pupil at a Wellington school while Joblin was a teacher from the late1970s to 1981. He said the abuse had ruined his life and he had been emotionally cold and isolated in his relationships. He had poor self-esteem and had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said it was clear from the pre-sentence reports that Joblin understood his offending. ?His refusal to acknowledge it is for his own self-preservation.?

Defence counsel Colin Eason said his submissions were restricted by Joblin?s continuing denial of his offending. He urged that that non-parole term to be imposed be lower than the maximum term allowed, and he asked for the suppression of name to continue, mainly to protect the group of victims.

Joblin maintains that sexual acts that occurred were consensual.

Judge Farish said Joblin had been a charismatic, articulate young teacher when the offending started, but alcohol had been a factor in his downfall to being a street busker who was living in squalor in Christchurch with no means of support.

Pre-sentence reports suggested he had a narcissistic personality disorder with paranoic traits.

She said the victim impact reports made harrowing and profoundly sad reading. Many of the youths were runaways and already had issues when Joblin met them, plied them with alcohol and cannabis, and sexually abused them at a time when they were sexually emerging themselves.

A lot of the victims had tried to take their own lives, after the abuse by a man who had taken on the role of protecting and caring for them.

There was a glimmer of hope in the pre-sentence reports that Joblin would accept his offending in time, and be able to do a treatment programme within the prison system.

Imposing the 20-year term, Judge Farish said: ?I have searched. There are no other cases which have offending at this unprecedented level.?

Because of the way the sentence is structured, Joblin would not be eligible to be considered for parole until he had served nine years, she said.