Victim vows to reclaim life as offender jailed

‘‘I NOW have a voice that is louder than you,’’ a woman told the babysitter who abused her for three years.

Brendon David Stephen (34) appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and was jailed for two and ahalf years.

He was originally charged over the historic offending in 2015 but denied the allegations until April, only days before he was due to go to trial.

Then Stephen admitted three counts of rape, one of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and one of committing an indecency with a child.

The victim, who was abused between the ages of 6 and 9, said her world was ‘‘ripped apart’’ when she came forward to police.

She was flatting, working and socialising at the time, all of which ended when she had to confront her traumatic past.

‘‘I became a hermit. I still am,’’ the victim said.

Coming back to live with her mother, living on social welfare, made her ‘‘feel like a little kid again’’.

The pain had become so unbearable, the woman deliberately crashed her car outside Invercargill and was nearly admitted to a mentalhealth facility because of it.

‘‘Somehow I survived,’’ she told her tormentor.

Judge Kevin Phillips detailed the sexual offending.

The first time Stephen raped the girl was when he knocked on her bedroom window one night and coaxed her into the yard.

The man, who was 14 at the time, forced her against a fence, where he committed the violation.

That same night, he forced the victim to perform a sex act on him.

The following rapes and indecencies, which took place over more than three years, happened when Stephen was placed in a position of responsibility as her babysitter.

Crown prosecutor Craig Power highlighted reports before the court that questioned the genuineness of the defendant’s remorse.

A psychological analysis said Stephen had ‘‘distorted thought processes’’, and minimised and justified his behaviour.

Judge Phillips was stunned to hear the defendant’s mother believed the entire case was a farce and that her son was innocent, despite his guilty pleas.

Defence counsel John Westgate said his client wanted to emphasise that he was a ‘‘different person’’ when he was a teenager.

Stephen said he had now given up alcohol and withdrawn from associates who were a negative influence.

The judge questioned that, noting the defendant’s criminal record, which included a drinkdriving conviction in 2011 and some serious dishonesty since then.

While the victim could not deny the pain Stephen caused her, she vowed to reclaim her life.

‘‘He stole something so precious. It was not until I was older I began to understand. He stole my innocence,’’ she said.

‘‘There is one thing you cannot have. I choose to live. I choose to be free.’’

rob.kidd@odt.co.nz