Yuki Nishikawa, 26, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday where he was sentenced to six months’ home detention on a count of indecent assault as well as possessing MDMA and ketamine.
The defendant was working in a Central Dunedin night spot while on a student visa when he met the 17-year-old victim in 2023.
The teenager had come to the city with friends to celebrate Re-Orientation Week, the court heard.
Nishikawa let the victim and her associates into the bar and fostered a relationship with them over five days, supplying them with free alcohol.
The girl had been drinking and using the party drug MDMA before visiting the defendant at his workplace on July 15 last year.
Nishikawa allowed her to charge her phone and gave her two free drinks.
"She went to the bathroom but was having trouble standing, everything was spinning, and she was falling into walls. She had never felt like this before," court documents said.
When Nishikawa finished his shift at 2.30am, he offered the victim a ride to her Airbnb accommodation.
Instead, he took a detour to his North East Valley flat.
The victim was vomiting and unable to stand up.
After Nishikawa persuaded her to shower, she got into his bed to sleep, "blacking in and out of consciousness".
The defendant joined her, groped her breasts and genitalia and kissed her.
"She moved her head away and did not consent to his touching of her or reciprocate in any way," a prosecution summary said.
The victim messaged a friend: "he’s taken advantage of me".
When police executed a search warrant at Nishikawa’s home the following month they found MDMA and ketamine in his wallet.
He denied any sexual contact with the victim and was released as police conducted further inquiries.
On February 8, Nishikawa got a flight from Dunedin to Auckland.
He was arrested before he boarded a plane bound for Japan.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said her client was heading back to take up a job offer.
She provided several references to the court in support of Nishikawa and confirmation from a North Island high school that he had been given a senior service award for voluntary work when he was a teenager.
The man had no support in New Zealand and would be deported once his sentence was served, Ms Saunderson-Warner said.
Judge David Robinson said Nishikawa’s pre-sentence interview with Probation offered significant insight into his level of remorse.
The defendant denied molesting the victim and said he had simply given her a hug because she was cold.
"She was isolated from her friends, she was alone in your flat and she was effectively defenceless," the judge said.
The court heard the girl’s education had since suffered and relationships with friends had broken down because she isolated herself in the aftermath.
Nishikawa was also sentenced to 150 hours’ community work and ordered to pay the victim $8000.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz, Court reporter
