A child rapist has indicated he will appeal 10 convictions for indecently assaulting girls, all under the age of 12, in June 2017 in Queenstown.
Benjamin Barrie Bradbury (43) was found guilty of 10 of the 13 charges he faced, against six young girls aged between 5 and 10 at the time of his offending by an Invercargill District Court jury yesterday afternoon.
This morning he appeared before Judge Mark Callaghan for a legal argument about whether he should be sentenced in the district court, or High Court.
Defence counsel Hugo Young said he was "absolutely certain" there would be an appeal against his convictions.
"I'm expecting that."
Bradbury also told the judge he had "complained to the IPCA [Independent Police Conduct Authority]" after believing he saw three jurors nodding when his previous convictions were briefly referenced after the verdict was read yesterday, and before the jury left the court.
Every day during his trial Judge Callaghan has warned the jury not to conduct their own research in to the case online and not to talk to others about it.
That is because Bradbury's previous history is on the internet.
Bradbury alleged the nodding meant some jurors had knowledge of his previous history.
Crown prosecutor Riki Donnelly did not agree that happened in court.
Judge Callaghan declined to sentence Bradbury in the district court given preventive detention was a possible outcome.
In New Zealand that is an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment in which there is a minimum non-parole period of five years.
Judge Callaghan ordered a pre-sentence report with two health assessors to address a preventive detention sentence, as required.
He will be sentenced in the High Court at Invercargill on May 9.
