December 20, 2012

Custody remand for unreliable teen

By David Clarkson

A teenage sex offender?s total unreliability will mean months in jail awaiting sentence and may have wrecked any chance of serving a home detention term instead of prison.

Everyone ? including his grandmother ? has now despaired of making Vaughan Danile-Roy Coxhill behave as required.

Duty lawyer Richard McGuire abandoned a bid for 19-year-old Coxhill?s release on bail in the Christchurch District Court yesterday. He said no suitable, approved address was available for him.

Coxhill had earlier been bailed to live with his grandmother but she had now decided he could no longer stay there. She believed she could not control him any longer.

Prosecutor Tim Mackenzie told the court the Crown now believed that holding Coxhill in custody was the only realistic way of ensuring he attends his sentencing which has been set for February 27.

He said that Coxhill?s behaviour might be ruling out consideration of a home detention sentence.

Coxhill has already failed to turn up for his appointments with probation to prepare a pre-sentence report, and has has missed two Crown sentencing dates.

He had to be arrested on warrant to bring him to court for yesterday?s appearance before Judge David Saunders, for the new sentencing date to be set.

Judge Saunders did not rule out a further bail application by Coxhill?s own counsel, Mark Callaghan, but he told the youth: ?You have really been the author of your own misfortune.?

He described Coxhill as a ?young? 19-year-old, and was told that he was still being kept apart from adult prisoners while on remand but that might not continue.

Coxhill, who is unemployed, pleaded guilty several months ago and was remanded on bail for sentencing. He has admitted having sex with two underage girls after Facebook hook-ups, and supplying one of them with cannabis.

His sentencing will include a first strike warning which imposes heavier sentences on repeat violent or sexual offenders.