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Christel Yardley / Stuff
The 53-year-old was jailed for three years and two months on charges of rape for illegal sexual connection and making intimate visual recordings when he appeared in Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.
A Waikato man who punched a hole in the wall of his adopted daughter’s bedroom so he could spy on her then filmed himself sexually raping her while she slept.
His teenage victim was completely unaware of what he had done to her until the recordings appeared some time later.
The 53-year-old, who cannot be identified without leading to the identification of his victim, was jailed for three years and two months when he appeared in Hamilton District Court on Tuesday.
He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful connection rape, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and four counts of making an intimate visual recording, one of which was a representative charge, meaning it covered crimes on many occasions.
The man’s crime took place in 2015, 2016 and 2017, at the man’s home in a Waikato town.
He stood on the dock in the courtroom, his eyes fixed on the ground as his victim confronted him and recounted the dramatic effects his actions had had on her.
Her parents had died when she was very young, and she was indeed raised by the man she knew as “papa” and had completely trusted him.
It was a trust that had been betrayed in the worst possible way.
She said that since the revelations of the man’s crime, she could not fully trust anyone and paranoia dominated her every time she entered a bathroom or public locker room, fearing that someone might have hidden a camera somewhere.
Shortly after the crime occurred, she became pregnant, had an abortion, and shortly after attempted suicide.
“You destroyed my life … You have to listen and understand that I am no longer your child.”
She compared her life to a tower of Lego blocks, carefully stacked on top of each other.
“I was that tower… You knocked it down in such a way that I can’t put it back together. You made me feel broken in every possible way. “
However, she made it clear that she would not let what he had done to her define her life.
“I have been fighting this for so long and I want to move on with my life, a life without you.
“You will never see me again after this day… You will never earn my respect or forgiveness.
“I will be happy and strong and I will get up, because I am strong.”
Judge John McDonald said that the victim’s failure to remember her rape “is an unusual feature in this case.”
“His life has been substantially affected. Clearly there was planning and premeditation. “
Over time, his actions had gone from voyeurism to physical offense.
While the defendant had pleaded guilty, “I find it hard to see any remorse in the pre-sentencing report. You have no appreciation for what you’ve done. “
Crown prosecutor Bayden Harris requested a starting point of four to five years in prison. The judge took a three-year starting point, added a year to account for the entirety, and then allowed a 20 percent discount to account for his guilty pleas, bringing a final sentence of three years and two months. .
He also ordered the destruction of the man’s cell phone.
When the man was taken to the courthouse cells after his sentencing, one of the victim’s supporters in the public gallery gave him some goodbye advice:
“Don’t go back to the city.”
