Name Suppression of Sexual Predator Lifted But Sentence Still Doesn’t Fit the Crime - Guthrie

17 November 2015

Once again the justice system has failed the community & the public at large says Scott Guthrie, the newly appointed Manawatu regional Spokesmand for the Sensible Sentencing Trust.

Stayz Te Atamira Raukawa was last month sentenced to 3 years & 4 months in prison on 4 charges of unlawful sexual connection & 8 charges of indecency with a 15 year old girl but will be eligible for parole in just 13 months’ time. During sentencing his victim read her victim impact statement which included the following comments “He took my youth” & “I don’t know who I am any more”. She also went on to say Raukawa had not only failed her but had also failed the community & he had had hundreds of opportunities to stop but he didn’t.

Acting defence lawyer, Rob Harrison, unsuccessfully tried to implicate to the court that his client posed “a slight to non-existent threat to the public” & that he felt that there was nothing that made this crime stand out which Sensible Sentencing finds abhorrent to say the least.

Justice France said that “Raukawa was a sexual offender who had committed serious sexual offences over a period of time “and that he was interested in the principal of open justice which had tremendous strength”.

Scott says, “Once again the question needs to be asked as to how our justice system comes up with such weak & inconsistent sentences for such serious offenders when the law actually would allow a prison term of 5 times the length so once again we need to make it very clear to our judges that we as a community have had enough of convicted criminals being pandered to and it’s time to man up and start using the law to its full extent”.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/74111253/Raukawa-named-Picton-sex-offender

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