Woman woke to find burglar asking for sex

A man broke into a Motueka house to proposition a woman for sex, performing an indecent act in front of her and the newborn child she was babysitting.

The man pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary via a video link at the Nelson District Court on Monday.

Judge Jane Farish granted the man, who is an overseas worker under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, interim name suppression until sentencing. He has been in custody since April 15, the day after he broke into a residential address in Motueka.

At 12.30am on Sunday, April 14, the man broke into the house through an unsecured rear door and walked into the lounge, where the female victim was asleep on the couch. She had been babysitting a newborn baby, who was in a cot next to her.

The man turned on the light and moved towards the woman, pulling her covers away and telling her to wake up. He then began masturbating in front of her, and asked her if she wanted to have sex with him.

The victim ran from the room, alerting the other members of the household to what had happened. The man fled but was located by police a short distance away.

In a statement to police, the man said he went into the house ‘‘looking for someone to have sex with’’.

Police withdrew an initial charge of indecent assault.

At an earlier hearing, Judge Richard Russell said that while alcohol had been a factor in the offending, he commissioned a report to investigate the man’s mental health, which came back negative.

Defence lawyer Emma Riddell said that as the man was a foreign national, he would be deported once any sentence imposed had been finished.

Judge Farish remanded the man in custody to September 2 for sentencing.