Oamaru man Craig Maindonald (58) was sentenced to 10 months' home detention on six historical counts of indecency against two girls, but is allowed to continue employment at the service station where he has worked for more than a decade.
Mandy told the Otago Daily Times she had got used to living in such close proximity to the sex offender and did not object when told by Corrections he was back at work.
But the case has revealed a loophole in the process.
Corrections' acting district manager Kelly Hill said if an offender on home detention was being considered for work, staff checked only whether victims were employed at the same location.
"Registered victims are not routinely consulted about an offender's employment,'' she said.
Mandy was unequivocal when it came to her views on Corrections' policy.
"It's bull ... ''
She could only remember scant details about her formative years, which she puts down to the trauma she suffered at Maindonald's hands.
"I lost my childhood . . . I sort of blacked everything out,'' she said.
"He ruined my life.''
Maindonald was sentenced at the Timaru District Court last year and the ODT only recently received all the documents required to tell the story.
Mandy was left unsatisfied by the outcome, which included 200 hours' community work, but it was the continued secrecy that grated most.
"The worst kick in the guts is that no-one knows,'' she said.
At the sentencing hearing, Mandy heard for the first time about the impact on a second victim, Tina*, who read an impassioned statement to her abuser in court.
She said the sex attacks that occurred in the 1970s had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, which meant she had only been able to hold down a full-time job for four years of her life.
Her repeated ordeals had also hugely affected her relationship with her husband.
"Still in that stage between being asleep and awake, I panic at the realisation that someone is in my bed,'' Tina said.
"There have been times when I have been woken to find out I had been hitting and punching my husband in my sleep.''
Most important to her was not that Maindonald was locked up but that he got the treatment he needed to ensure he did not prey on children again.
She was concerned he was allowed to work while serving his sentence, especially in a job that brought him into contact with so many people.
"What probably bothers me . . . is that he's working with the public and the public are unaware,'' Tina said.
Corrections acting operations director Lisa Joseph said a range of factors were considered when an offender wanted to work, such as ``the offender's risk, when the offending occurred and the type of work to be carried out''.
"[Maindonald] is electronically GPS monitored at all times and is under constant supervision while at work,'' Ms Joseph confirmed.
Such offenders, she said, have direct routes they must travel to and from work, and within strict time frames.
Court documents showed Maindonald sexually abused the two girls when he was between 15 and 20 years old.
All but one of the charges related to Tina who was molested by the defendant in a hay shed when he "pretended to be a doctor carrying out an examination of her''.
On another occasion, the court heard, Maindonald locked the victim in a garage and placed blankets on the floor on which he committed his acts.
Tina said the harrowing events continued to resonate with her for decades afterwards.
"Intertwined in my of the horror of the events is the sound of the key locking and later unlocking, and the smell of dust and of cat poo,'' she said.
"I still jump when I hear a key turn. The smell of cat- poo makes me want to vomit.''
Mandy was chased by Maindonald and eventually cornered, a summary of facts said.
He pinned her down before committing the indecencies for 15 minutes before finally letting her go.
When the defendant was first interviewed by police, he admitted "something did happen'' but not the extent suggested by the victims.
He pleaded guilty to the six charges only after a sentencing indication in which a judge opened the door to a community-based sentence.
Tina said to face her attacker in court and tell him how she had been forever changed by his actions felt meaningful.
Despite Maindonald's sentence being light in her view, she said she would go through the process of police statements and court dates again.
"It has brought back some sort of honesty to myself. It's no longer that thing in the corner that's ignored,'' she said.
"This is a topic in New Zealand we don't talk about nearly enough.''
It was not, however, something Maindonald himself was prepared to discuss.
When the ODT called him, he said: ``I don't want to talk about it.''
*Victims' names have been changed because they are statutorily suppressed.
