Rapist gets jail sentence

A man who raped a woman and later kidnapped her in a “fit of uncontrollable jealousy and anger” will spend five years and nine months in prison.

On Friday afternoon, the man was sentenced on charges of rape, kidnapping, accessing a computer sytem without authority, contravening a protection order and attempting to prevent the course of justice.

The man had pleaded guilty to the less serious charges, and was found guilty by a jury of rape and kidnapping. While he does not have name suppression, Stuff has chosen not to name him to protect his victim.

Judge Jo Rielly went over the facts during the hearing.

The man and victim were in an “informal” and “intermittent” relationship between June and September 2021.

On July 1 2021, the woman awoke to the man having sex with her. Despite telling him she did not want sex, and trying to push him away, he continued, the judge said.

A few months later, the pair shared a cabin on the ferry to Picton.

The man had become suspicious of the woman, and while she slept, he went through her phone, reading her messages and obtaining login information.

That night, in Kaikōura the woman said there was unwanted sexual contact. She told the man she didn’t want to be with him, and in the morning, she asked him to drop her at the iSite.

The man agreed, but instead, began driving her towards Christchurch. When the woman realised, she became scared and upset, and called the police, who caught up with them outside Kaikōura.

Later, the man breached a protection order by contacting her on social media. He also emailed to request she drop the case, so he could return to his country, resulting in the perverting the course of justice charge.

The victim, appearing via audiovisual link, asked an advocate to read her impact statement aloud.

The man saw her as an easy target, alone and vulnerable, and had “manipulated” her into a relationship so he could do “whatever he wanted,” the statement said.

“You are a sex predator, and you used the term ‘relationship’ to have sex; this is how you trapped me.”

Crown prosecutor Ian Murray said the man had cited cultural misunderstandings about consent. However, in his view the offending demonstrated a lack of respect for people’s autonomy.