Alexandra man Roy Nicholson has been refused final name suppression and sentenced to 10 years’ jail for sexual offending against a young girl who was called a liar when she accused him.
Nicholson (48) must serve four and a-half years of the sentence before he can apply for parole.
He had denied the offending but pleaded guilty, minutes before a jury was to be sworn in to hear the case in the Dunedin District Court. Yesterday, he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on charges of rape, unlawful sexual connection and indecent assault.
Defence counsel Brian Kilkelly asked for final name suppression for Nicholson because of the possible effect on the family, but that was opposed by the Crown and also by the 15-year-old victim. Judge Crosbie agreed name suppression should not continue.
Those who knew the victim and had called her a liar, would know Nicholson had pleaded guilty and they would also know the girl was not a liar.
In the statement she read to the court, the girl said a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders when she finally told someone about what the defendant had been doing to her.
"But a few weeks later, everybody at school caught wind of it and was saying I lied about it.
"Then a heavy sadness hit my soul. I was trapped in the misery of my life, lost in the sorrow of my soul."
She spoke of starting to self harm, the first time while still at primary school. Sometimes just thinking about what the defendant did to her made her want to harm herself — "to the point I didn’t want to live".
What Nicholson had done had caused breaches in relationships with people she cared about.
"But I thought to myself, what he did to me doesn’t define who I am because nobody — not even Roy — can hold me back because I will keep getting back up, not matter what he throws at me to hold me back."
Crown counsel Richard Smith described the victim as "a very capable young woman with a very bright future".
The first offence was when the girl was 9. There was then a gap of three to four years until the next offending. There had been a degree of premeditation and a significant breach of trust, given the defendant was a full-grown man and the victim was a child. The offences involved rape and unlawful sexual connection and had damaged the girl both physically and emotionally. Mr Smith said, asking for a sentence starting at 10 to 11 years with a discount of 10% to 15% for the guilty plea. Judge Crosbie said he thought such a discount was "extraordinarily generous" for such a late guilty plea when the girl would have been waiting to give evidence.
"In my experience of jury trials, that’s a form of cruelty, to wait until the morning of the trial," the judge said.
Mr Smith said he accepted the young woman would have been petrified, given she was a young vulnerable victim. He said the Crown was opposed to name suppression. Mr Kilkelly said he was taken by surprise by the late guilty plea and accepted the victim’s view about the defendant’s name being published. But he said Nicholson was relieved to have pleaded guilty and to no longer hold the burden of secrecy. He was on the way to understanding the effects of his actions on the girl and was strongly motivated to attend treatment programmes for sex offenders while in prison. He was very remorseful about what he had done and was determined to do the work needed to put matters right.
Judge Crosbie commended the girl for her measured and insightful statement to the court.
"Although quite brief, it was simply one of the best statements I’ve heard, especially from a 15-year-old."
He told Nicholson, "This is a very intelligent young woman you raped and sexually violated, a very brave young woman who’s not a victim but a survivor. She will do great things with her life."
He agreed with what she said that what the defendant had done did not define her.
"And your guilty plea says she is not a liar."
Summarising the offending, Judge Crosbie said Nicholson had gone to the girl’s bedroom when she was 9 when her mother was out. He removed her pyjamas, licked her vaginal area and penetrated her with his fingers, causing her pain. Then, when she was 11 or 12, he again went to her bedroom, held her down and raped her repeatedly, telling her several times not to tell anyone as nobody would believe her. The girl was bleeding and in pain all of the next day.
She had been a vulnerable victim and the offending had been violent and had caused harm to her. The fact it had been isolated and relatively brief, with one incident of rape was "no comfort to her", Judge Crosbie told Nicholson.
