The 20-year-old, who has final name suppression, was sentenced by Judge Russell Walker to four years and nine months’ jail when he appeared at the Invercargill District Court today.
The offending, which took place in a variety of locations throughout Southland, began in 2014 and ended in 2018 when the defendant was 16.
His three victims were aged between six and 12 at the time.
Judge Walker said the offending took place in bedrooms, in a hut, a garage and by a river and were instigated by the man through role playing mothers and fathers.
‘’The victims played the role of your wife.’’
Sometimes he would take the victims separately to the locations, but other times together. The acts were carried out weekly for two of the children and fortnightly for another.
‘’You would often promise the victims money or to make them drinks if they did what you asked them to do,’’ Judge Walker said.
The offending stopped when the man got a girlfriend at age 16, and when one of his sisters made a complaint.
In submissions, defence counsel Sonia Vidal said it was an extremely fraught and difficult matter for everyone involved.
‘’It’s very, very hard punishing someone who was at such a young age at the time of the offending as the defendant was. It’s very, very hard for the court to accept justice in all these circumstances.”
In her written submissions, Ms Vidal said the man had grown up in a chaotic and disorganised environment with parents focussed on other matters.
She outlined a psychologists report which had been prepared for the court. In it, it suggested the man’s role playing may have been a result of needing to create loving relationships.
There was also an event in 2005, when the man was then aged three of four years old which may have impacted him, although he could not remember it.
Ms Vidal’s submission also revealed how the man plead guilty to the charges before a trial, as he did not want to cause his sisters any further grief or pain by having to give evidence, Judge Walker said.
The victims had felt a breach of trust and betrayal and it affected their emotional and mental health.
‘’The consequences on them have been serious,’’ Judge Walker said.
“At the same time, they want you to get help so no one else suffers the way they have.”
