Paul Thomas Neumann, 63, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier admitting breaching an extended supervision order (ESO).
The order is only imposed on the most high-risk offenders once a prison sentence lapses and allows Corrections to closely monitor them in the community.
In 2017, an ESO was imposed on Neumann for 10 years after he was jailed for seven sexual offences against girls under 12.
The court heard that on October 20, Neumann breached a condition of his ESO by loitering at the Oval area while he had a condition not to go there.
The Oval is frequented by young people and there were two early childhood centres nearby.
He spent 10 minutes in the area about noon.
In explanation, Neumann said he was aware of his condition but did not think his Probation officer would be working.
‘‘[I thought] I would get away with it as it was a Sunday,’’ he said. ‘‘[I] forgot about the other [staff] in Wellington.’’
Yesterday, counsel Libby Had-low said her client claimed he was near the Oval to look at a car he had seen on a Keno ticket.
‘‘He went at a time when he thought there would be no young [people] there,’’ she said.
She argued a deferred sentence should be imposed.
Judge David Robinson highlighted a report which detailed Neumann’s previous poor compliance with his whereabouts condition.
He had received multiple written warnings for non-compliance and he had been cautioned for failing to charge his tracker.
PARS had also taken away his ‘‘computer privileges’’.
Neumann was previously convicted of breaching his ESO in 2018 after he entered an exclusion zone that children frequented.
He received a nine-month deferred sentence for that offence.
The judge said the most recent breach struck him as a case of ‘‘pushing the boundaries’’.
He sentenced Neumann to a ‘‘brief but meaningful’’ stint of two months’ community detention.
Neumann’s curfew hours were centred around periods when young people would likely be out.
He had to be home from 7.30am to 10am and 1pm to 6pm on weekdays and from 9am to 6pm on weekends. — APL
