Assault revealed string of offences
A SEX offender who was the subject of a vigilante street attack will join one of the men who attacked him behind bars.
Keith Wicks (30) was viciously beaten by a pack of men after they saw him involved in a confrontation in George St in July, googled his name and discovered he had served prison time for the sexual abuse of a young girl.
Last week, four men were convicted and sentenced over the street thuggery and the ‘‘ringleader’’ Alex MurphyFox (20) was jailed for two years and two months.
Yesterday Wicks stood in the same dock as his attacker and was sentenced to two years, nine months’ imprisonment on a slew of charges, stemming from him driving while he was suspended.
Early on February 19, he was pulled over by police in George St. In a bid to avoid trouble, he gave his brother’s name and details.
Wicks’ brother was also banned from driving at the time and he was charged and given a court summons for the following month.
Rather than confess to the ruse, the defendant turned up to court and was sentenced in his brother’s name.
It was two months later when police worked out what had happened.
As a result, it became clear Wicks had also breached the terms of the Child Sex Offender Register to which he was subject.
He had failed to inform managers of his ownership of the Toyota he was driving in February and had also moved house in Oamaru without seeking permission.
Despite being charged with breaching the terms of his registration, attempting to pervert the course of justice, providing false information to police and aggravated driving while suspended, Wicks got bail.
And he repaid the court’s faith in him by repeating his crimes.
On July 6, he was pulled over again by police because his passengers were consuming alcohol.
Again, he gave his brother’s details. It was only when he was taken to hospital following the assault that night that it became clear he had attempted to deceive police once more.
Defence counsel Brian Kilkelly said being dropped on his head had resulted in his client suffering repeated seizures, the most recent of which was last week.
Wicks, he said, had been through specialist sexoffender treatment while locked up and did not feel he was at risk of committing further predatory acts.
The defendant described driving as being ‘‘like an addiction’’.
He was, however, determined to break the cycle of offending, Mr Kilkelly told the court.
Judge Michael Crosbie said it was the first time in his career he had seen someone attempt to pervert the course of justice while on bail for doing just that.
‘‘It strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system,’’ he said.
Wicks was also banned from driving for three years and nine months.