Deviant back in prison

A man who committed an indecent act on a boy is back behind bars for breaching an extended supervision order.

Judge Lance Rowe told Graham Lee Bartlett in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday he needed to learn how to follow the rules if he wanted to stay in the community.

Bartlett was jailed for six months for breaching an extended supervision order after his release from jail.

He served three years and six months for doing an indecent act on a baby boy at Hamilton’s Te Awa shopping centre, and possessing objectionable material.

He was found guilty of the act at a judge-alone trial, during which a mall cleaner said she saw Bartlett in a changing room with the baby boy.

Bartlett said he was suffering a hernia, which made his groin swell, but the cleaner said Bartlett clearly had an erection.

The judge who sentenced Bartlett said he would likely receive preventive detention – a life term with the potential of no release – if he offended in the same way again.

Bartlett was released from jail in September, and part of his extended supervision order said he could not own an internet-capable device.

He went on to live at Salvation Army Supported Accommodation in Palmerston North, where a staff member learned he had a cellphone.

Bartlett admitted he had a cellphone when interviewed by his probation officer in January, saying he owned it since middecember and had used it to access the internet.

He said he had found the phone, yet still managed to access the internet behind the security code.

The judge did not buy that explanation.

‘‘I regard that as an implausible explanation.’’

While it was Bartlett’s first breach, it was a serious matter because of the short period of time since his release and the fact it related to his objectionable material convictions, the judge said.

‘‘The Parole Board’s function when it establishes an extended supervision order is to protect the public.

‘‘My function is to back that up, and see to it that you get a message that the public must be protected.

‘‘Your responsibility is to see to it that you don’t breach your conditions in a way that might cause risk of harm to public safety.’’

Any further breaches of an extended supervision order would result in more time in jail, the judge said. ‘‘You will be out soon. When you are, make sure you understand your conditions and obey them.’’

Defence lawyer Mike Andrews said the breach was ‘‘a bit of a learning process’’ for Bartlett.

‘‘He was starting to get set up in the community, but is going to have to start over again.’’