Vicious rapist gets seven-year sentence

A judge called Dean Henderson’s rape "unusually callous". PHOTO: ROB KIDD
A judge called Dean Henderson’s rape "unusually callous". PHOTO: ROB KIDD
A Dunedin man’s vicious rape — which he filmed on his victim’s phone — was "sexual violence in its truest form", a court has heard.

Dean Jacob Henderson, 29, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week where he was jailed for seven years, after pleading guilty to rape and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

The case initially went to trial before the hearing was aborted, and later the defendant finally accepted responsibility before a retrial began.

The victim had to spend three days in the witness box, enduring "a wholesale attack on her credibility", Judge David Robinson said.

In an eloquent victim impact statement, she said her pain had not diminished since the harrowing attack in 2021.

"I have had to relive the nightmare of what you did to me over and over, every police interview, court process ... attending medical appointments, therapy sessions, all to achieve justice for what you did to me.

"Everything beautiful that made me a woman you warped. I hate you. The cold blood pumping through my veins as I was inspected, swabbed, photographed and analysed; my body, your mess."

On October 15, 2021, responding to a message he received, Henderson went to the woman’s home.

Slapping her phone from her hand and pouring a beer over her was just the start of the degradation.

When the woman went to change, Henderson ripped a garment from her grasp and used it to whip her.

As the defendant tried to remove the rest of her clothes, she protested and told the man she was sorry.

It had no effect.

"The defendant hit her with open hands and told her to look him in the eyes," a court summary said.

The violations began and every time the victim tried to push Henderson away, he struck her.

The details of the sex attack that ensued are too graphic for publication.

Henderson strangled the victim during the incident and repeatedly demanded she stay still, the court heard.

He spat at her and, towards the end of the brutal episode, demanded she "look at Daddy".

"Your contact was calculated to be dominating and demeaning," the judge said.

Once it was over, Henderson made one final, chilling comment.

"The defendant told the complainant that ... she was such a good girl, and he wished he didn’t have to do that."

Ten months later, she was given a horrifying reminder of the attack when she searched her phone.

On Snapchat, she found a 20-second video Henderson had recorded of the incident.

"You painted my body with bruises. You choked me until my eyes flickered and dimmed," the victim said.

"You tried to humiliate me by recording me, choked and unconscious, naked and exposed."

Regardless, she called herself a "survivor ... a rapist’s worse nightmare".

"I spoke my truth and this time you crumbled," she said.

"I pray you receive the help you so desperately need, and that karma plays her cruel hand for the rest."

Crown prosecutor Pip Norman said Henderson, in an interview with Probation, blamed both the victim and the pressures of lockdown for his crimes.

"He really demonstrates little insight into his offending," she said.

"It’s sexual violence in its truest form."

Counsel Meg Scally said her client was the product of his upbringing, and while Judge Robinson accepted his childhood had been "disadvantaged", it did not explain the severity of his offending.

He noted Henderson had a history of violence which appeared to be increasing in seriousness, culminating in the "unusually callous" rape.

Because of that, he imposed a minimum non-parole period of three years, four months.

Henderson will see the Parole Board in August 2027.

rob.kidd@odt.co.nz

 

 

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