A comedian has been sentenced to eight months' home detention after a discharge without conviction was overturned for an indecent assault against his four-year-old daughter.
The man, who was originally discharged in September last year, was convicted and sentenced in Auckland District Court this morning where his defence counsel argued for a fine or community service.
The original decision to allow the comedian to walk free was successfully appealed against in the High Court earlier this year.
The man, whose name is suppressed to protect the identity of his daughter, had arrived home drunk from a work Christmas party when he performed an indecent act on his daughter.
The court heard this morning that the man had been granted joint custody of his daughter after separating from his wife following the offending.
There has been "significant progress" in the relationship between the man and his former partner and he has re-established a "healthy, normal relationship" with his daughter.
Judge Mark Perkins said a sentence of home detention would reflect the man's "culpability and criminality".
He said psychological reports found the man showed "no prospect of future harm to children". He had undertaken programmes to deal with his alcohol dependence and had remained abstinent for two years.
Judge Perkins said there had been no sign of trauma to the man's daughter, except for the stress of her parents' separation.
"Obviously one would hope the child would not remember details of the offending."
The judge said the interests of the community needed to be taken into consideration in the sentencing and reflect the court's denunciation of sexual offences against children.
"Sexual activity of the kind involved in this case on a young child aged four years results in the gravity of the offending being regarded as high indeed," Judge Perkins said.
The court previously heard the man went to bed with his partner after returning home drunk from a Christmas work party in December 2009.
After he fell asleep, his daughter got into bed with them.
According to the police summary of facts, the man laid his daughter on her back, pulled down her pyjama pants and nappy and kissed her.
The man's partner woke up and asked him what he was doing. He replied: "I thought it was you."
He later told police that he remembered nothing of the incident.
At the original sentencing, the judge ruled a conviction would outweigh the gravity of the offence.
District Court Judge Philippa Cunningham said the reasons for his discharge without conviction included that he "makes people laugh".
"He's a talented New Zealander. He makes people laugh," Judge Cunningham said. "Laughter is an incredible medicine and we all need lots of it."
Judge Cunningham said a report from a forensic psychiatrist found the man had previous episodes of "unusual behaviour" after going to bed drunk.
The report said it was possible he was "not fully awake" when he performed the indecent act.
A letter before the court this morning from the man's employer said despite suppression his name and offending was "well known" by many in his industry.
"Even with the benefit of suppression and previously being discharged ... you have faced a serious decline in the work available to you, and a consequential decline in income. Your identity is known to a considerable group of people in that industry," Judge Perkins said.
He said the man had been able to "recover to an extent" at work but a conviction "might lead to a further downturn in your career and an inability to participate in anything other than at a backroom capacity".
- Kieran Campbell of APNZ
