Geoffrey Lyn Sinha, 51, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he was sentenced to 200 hours’ community work and nine months’ supervision after admitting a charge under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
At an earlier appearance, the court was told the defendant’s obscene messages to the pensioner were driven by the fact she reminded him of his dead mother.
Sinha, who had changed his name to "Glen" in honour of his mother Glennis, started a gardening business in 2023 and met the victim early the following year.
But in July, his interest in the woman took a sordid twist.
Sinha first sent the victim an image of a woman dressed in "clothing associated with royalty", later apologising for the cryptic message.
But in July, his communications adopted a more overtly sexual tone.
The defendant first sent the victim a message: "I’m sitting in front of the fire thinking of having sex with ..."
He then made his intentions clearer.
"I want to lie next to you," Sinha wrote.
Again, he apologised for the advances but followed it up shortly after with a 39-second video of himself naked on a couch.
Sinha told police he simply "misread" the situation.
The court yesterday heard the victim had been staggered by his actions.
She described her garden as her "sanctuary", and Sinha’s messages had left her feeling nervous around her home.
"I feel shocked, saddened and let down by a person I trusted," the woman said.
"My garden, a special place to me, has been contaminated."
In a statement she said she and her daughter had removed any of the horticultural work the defendant had undertaken in a bid to remove the chilling memories.
Sinha blamed his pursuit of the woman nearly 40 years his senior on his use of alcohol, medicinal cannabis and several months of watching pornography.
In an affidavit aired at an earlier hearing, Sinha said he had been sentenced to three years’ hard labour (suspended) for drug importation in 2016 when he lived in Japan.
He wrote that he had been to Europe to organise a conference when he stopped in Amsterdam on the way home, attempting to smuggle hashish into his adopted homeland.
But Judge Hermann Retzlaff said he would treat the defendant, who had no New Zealand convictions, as a first offender.
The crimes, he said, were "so persistent" and the victim was particularly vulnerable given her age.
However, the judge accepted Sinha was truly remorseful and noted he had made a $1500 donation to Otepoti Communities Against Sexual Abuse.
Counsel Brendan Stephenson told the court his client’s indiscretions had already come at a cost, resulting in the loss of his job and his partner.
An earlier sentencing date had been adjourned to organise a psychological report for the defendant through Legal Aid, but that had not been possible, Judge Retzlaff said.
