Women scarred by man’s assaults
A patched Black Power member has dodged being locked up indefinitely for sexual and violent offences against women, despite psychologists saying he is highly likely to reoffend.
Justice Susan Thomas instead sentenced Turanga Werata to 13 years’ jail, saying his age and commitment to rehabilitation tipped the scales away from preventive detention.
Werata, 24, waved to his mother as he was marched to the cells after being sentenced in the High Court in Palmerston North on Wednesday, for violent offending against two women.
The most serious crimes were committed against a teenager who still has nightmares about the hours-long assault she suffered.
She and Werata met via Facebook, but only met in person when she travelled to Palmerston North in June 2015 to stay with him in his house truck.
Werata returned to the truck to find her sleeping, and punched her in the face after she had not done his washing.
He later accused her of cheating on her after seeing she had liked a photo on Facebook, before carrying out an attack the judge said lasted hours.
He ripped off her clothes and attacked her with the cord of a hair straightener, burned her with a cigarette lighter, flicked cigarette ash on her and spat at her.
He was also guilty of attempted sexual violation and sexual violation with an object.
She was unable to escape, at one stage having her wrists tied up.
In her victim impact statement, she said she was traumatised, suffering nightmares almost every night and afraid to leave her house.
The other woman was attacked multiple times between February and May 2015, with Werata hitting her in in the kidneys, slashing her with razor blades, hitting her in the knee with a nail and urinating on her.
The
"I know what I did was wrong, and know I should have to go through what my victims suffered." Turanga Werata
judge said Werata ‘‘threatened to cut her up, put her in a bag and leave her at her koro’s house’’.
There was also an incident when the woman was at a friend’s house.
Werata jumped the fence, bashed her in the face with an aluminium baseball bat, then chased her inside and again hit her in the head and face.
Defence lawyer Paul Murray said preventive detention was a ‘‘sentence of last resort’’, which was not where Werata was at.
He had never been through rehabilitation courses, despite first going to jail when 17 years old.
He also wrote in his letter to the court: ‘‘I know what I did was wrong and know I should have to go through what my victims suffered’’.
The judge said age was no barrier to preventive detention, but a finite sentence would give Werata time to rehabilitate.
Werata must serve half his sentence before being considered for parole.