A Christchurch man who scarred two teenage girls during bondage and discipline sessions in his dungeon has appealed his conviction on the grounds that the issue of consent was not properly considered.
Jeffrey Barker, aged in his 50s, was sentenced in November at Christchurch District Court to nine months home detention and fined $5000.
As a member of the Christchurch bondage/sado-masochism scene, Barker called himself Dragon.
In 2006 he used a scalpel to cut a dragon design into the shoulder of a 15-year-old girl who had a history of self-harm.
He also cut a design into the breast area of a 17-year-old girl who was restrained at the time and had taken nitrous oxide and party pills.
The scars were intended to be semi-permanent but in both cases did not disappear and the girls reported suffering from depression, shame, anxiety and panic attacks.
Defence counsel Tim Fournier had argued the girls gave "fully informed consent" to the procedures but Judge Kevin Phillips ruled consent was not a valid defence.
At the Court of Appeal in Wellington today, Mr Fournier asked for the issue of consent to be re-examined.
The justices raised a number of issues, such as whether the girl's young age precluded them from being able to consent and whether consenting to one level of harm covered any number of outcomes.
"If I agree to a pin prick and then you slashed my arm," then the act goes beyond what was consented to, Justice O'Regan said.
Mr Fournier said in the case of the younger girl, her history of cutting herself indicated she would have known the possible effects of what Barker proposed.
The justices said in the event the case was sent back to the district court, there would need to be guidelines in place for how consent could be measured.
The court reserved its decision.
