A Dunedin man jailed for eight and a-half years for sexually abusing his partner, has been released on parole.
James Tawhirimatea Frazer Moanaroa (32) impregnated the victim during one attack and was found guilty of three charges of rape, three of assault and one of unlawful sexual connection after a Dunedin District Court trial in 2011.
Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said Moanaroa had tried to control the young woman, physically and sexually. He had rejected her attempts to prevent sexual activity and had little concern for her views. .
The man was denied parole last May as the board believed there was still undue risk, primarily because Moanaroa continued to try to shift the blame for his offending on to the victim.
The prisoner's limited previous convictions involved drink-driving and disorderly behaviour, the board said.
Moanaroa had been refused several times since becoming eligible for parole in 2014 but in December the board found in his favour. The meeting heard Moanaroa was living in ''self care'' and had been working outside prison on a dairy farm.
The prisoner told the board his core beliefs, particularly concerning relationships, had changed. And he undertook to be more open and honest about how he was feeling and to ask for help.
Moanaroa was granted parole despite his engagement on the Adult Sex Offender Treatment Programme being assessed as ''superficial''. He explained it was because he was not communicating well.
He now understood, he said, that his offending took place because he was hurting and he wanted to hurt his partner back.
''He told the board that he does not like the person that he had become at that time but he does like the person he is now,'' the decision said.
Parole Board convener Martha Coleman noted Moanaroa had no job arranged after his release and family were concerned about him returning to a ''high-stress environment''.
''His intense competitiveness and difficulty in accepting failure were also identified ... as stress factors and this needs to be watched,'' Ms Coleman said.
Moanaroa, whose sentence end date is March 2020, was granted parole on a range of conditions:
- To undertake and complete treatment if directed.
- To reside at a specified address and not to move without Probation approval.
- To travel directly to that address from prison and await an electronic-monitoring company.
- To abide by a curfew of 9pm to 6am until March 7, 2018.
- To abide by a curfew of 11pm to 6am after that date.
- To disclose to Probation the start or resumption of any intimate relationship.
- Not to have contact with the victim.
- Not to possess or consume alcohol or drugs.
- To attend a hearing in June for monitoring by the Parole Board.
