Foot rubs lead to indecent acts

A man has avoided being placed on the child sex offender register after paying a girl to rub his feet while he performed sexual acts.

Bradley Gordon Winchcombe, 32, knew having his feet touched was almost the only way he became sexually aroused before the teen rubbed them for the first time, the Palmerston North District Court heard yesterday.

But his prospects of rehabilitation and lack of interest in children led Judge Jonathan Krebs to leave him off the child sex offender register.

Winchcombe, however, is banned from associating with children younger than 16 while he serves seven months and one week home detention for performing indecent acts.

The way he and the girl knew each other cannot be reported for legal reasons, but they knew each other before the indecencies began. She offered to give him a foot rub for $20, which he accepted.

The judge said there was nothing wrong with that ‘‘in the normal course of events’’. ‘‘But you [Winchcombe] know that you shouldn’t have allowed that to happen.’’

Matters progressed to the point where Winchcombe would pleasure himself while being given foot rubs multiple times a week.

He eventually went to police and confessed.

The girl’s mother, reading a victim impact statement, said she had considered Winchcombe a ‘‘monster’’, especially as he had denounced other child sex offenders in front of her.

She felt dirty, guilty and immense self-loathing due to Winchcombe’s treatment of her child, she said. ‘‘I pray to God every day [my child] will be okay.’’

She knew Winchcombe read the Bible and prayed every day.

‘‘You hide behind the Lord and think that because you have confessed your sins that you are free of judgment and you will find peace.

‘‘How is that fair?’’