A Dunedin man jailed for sexually abusing a schoolgirl in the 1980s has had his sentence cut by the Court of Appeal.
In a decision released today, the Appeal Court quashed David Hockley's jail sentence of seven-and-a-half years and replaced it with one of six years four months.
The appeal court justices allowed Hockley's appeal, finding that the original sentencing judge had not given due weight to three mitigating features.
They were: Hockley's guilty pleas, his otherwise clean record, his age (68 at time of sentence in 2008) and his health.
Hockley, a Master of the Bells at First Church in Dunedin, was convicted and sentenced in the High Court at Dunedin last September. He had earlier admitted five charges representing repeated and prolonged sexual offending against the girl.
The court was told he first raped her when she was aged 13 and subjected her to regular indecencies - as often as six times a week - over the next five years.
He abused her at First Church when taking her for bellringing lessons, and made her watch pornography.
The victim, now in her 30s, complained to police in 2007 after undergoing years of counselling.
