Teen jailed for brutal rape

HAMILTON: A teenager has been jailed for eight years for the brutal rape of a Hamilton woman in front of her 7yearold daughter.

The woman was asleep in her bed with her daughter on the morning of April 7.

At 7am, peaking after a twoday bender on methamphetamine, Lorenz Shannyn Mekuli (17) committed acts a Hamilton judge yesterday described ‘‘as bad as it gets’’.

After clambering through a partially opened window Mekuli, then 16, rummaged through her handbag.

The burly, 183cm gang associate then walked into her bedroom and found her in bed asleep with her daughter.

The 23yearold mum asked him what he wanted but he jumped on the bed and started strangling them both.

The graphic details of the assault, which then turned sexual, were revealed in the Hamilton District Court yesterday.

With his hands clasped around their necks, her daughter began struggling to breath while the victim felt like she was beginning to lose consciousness.

He then dragged them both out of bed and into the hallway, where he made the daughter sit down and watch as he repeatedly raped and ordered her mother to carry out sexual acts.

Mekuli then demanded her car keys and that she drive him to another location so he could escape.

But when they reached the front door, the victim saw her opportunity to escape and, grabbing her daughter, they fled to a neighbour’s house.

Mekuli had originally pleaded guilty to burglary but denied charges of rape, unlawful sexual connection, threats to kill, assaulting a female, assaulting a child, attempted abduction and assault with a weapon.

However, he pleaded guilty on the morning of a scheduled defended hearing in July, a decision he yesterday got credit for by Judge Louis Bidois.

Crown prosecutor Louella Dunn said the impact on the victim had been horrific. She read an excerpt of the victim’s impact statement to the court, at her request, in which it detailed how she still struggled to sleep and had since moved from the house she had shared with her daughter for the past six years.

She had lost her confidence and no longer was able to enjoy normal activities in life.

The victim, who was in court to see her rapist jailed, said she still feared retribution and wanted him to receive the maximum available to the court.

Ms Dunn suggested the judge take a starting point of 15 years before issuing a total of 35% in discounts for his age and guilty plea.

He did not deserve a discount for remorse because he had not shown any and still posed a high risk of harm to others, she said.

Defence counsel Sacha Nepe urged the judge to take a lower starting point, of eight to 10 years, before issuing discounts of up to 40%.

She said he had endured a tough upbringing which involved domestic violence and drug use.

Both his parents and family members were in court to support him, and a long prison sentence would be ‘‘crushing’’.

Mekuli had struggled to comprehend the enormity of the charges he faced, which had impacted the delay in entering guilty pleas.

Judge Bidois accepted findings in psychological reports which found he had limited cognitive function and was almost ADHD.

The Crown described the incident as a home invasion but the judge instead defined it as a burglary because he first targeted the victim’s handbag before carrying out the sexual offending.

The victim’s vulnerability was high as Mekuli was a large man, at least 183cm, while the victim was small in stature. The harm done was ‘‘significant’’.

She had suffered ‘‘physical and extreme psychological effects, destroying the quality of her life — the damage done has been irreparable’’.

As he was led out of the dock, the judge urged him to seek as much help as he could while behind bars. — NZME