Teen victims unhappy with rapist’s sentence

TAURANGA: The victims of a teenage rapist who was sentenced to home detention after sexually abusing five girls say they do not believe justice has been served.

The girls — who have automatic name suppression — have described the lasting impact of the rapes and sexual violation they suffered at the hands of Jayden Meyer, who was 16 at the time of the offending.

“Life doesn’t prepare you for the horrors others’ actions can inflict. Nor does it prepare you for the mental strain 16 months through the courts can cause,” one of the girls said on behalf of the five victims.

“This boy’s actions have caused a lifetime of trauma and hurt.

“Many have expressed that nine months is not a suitable punishment against the 10 charges he has been convicted of.

‘‘Considering, in our view, a lack of acknowledgement shown by both the offender and his family, justice doesn’t feel as though it has been served in this case.”

The young women have silently watched outrage grow this week after it was revealed the now 18yearold rapist was sentenced to nine months’ home detention — despite a judge acknowledging the sentence would ordinarily be one of imprisonment.

They believe Meyer’s sentence should have been harsher.

It is a sentiment that has been echoed by tens of thousands of New Zealanders, many of whom have signed a petition calling for tougher punishments and yesterday marched in the streets.

One of the victims said the abuse was “the hardest thing” she had been through.

Yesterday afternoon more than 100 people gathered in Hamilton and at least 500 in Mount Maunganui in support of the victims.

Meyer, who denied the sexual offending in 2020 and 2021, was sentenced in July after a defended hearing in which he was found guilty.

All five victims were aged 15 at the time of the offending.

Both the Crown and the defence submitted that a sentence of home detention would be appropriate, despite the Crown acknowledging imprisonment would be the ordinary sentence for this sort of offending.

Judge Christopher Harding agreed, saying a sentence of imprisonment being typical of this level of offending was “undoubtedly correct”.

The written decision does not detail how Judge Harding reached the conclusion home detention would be the most appropriate sentence.

Crown solicitor Anna Pollett defended the sentence yesterday, explaining that a ‘‘rehabilitative approach is to protect the community in the long term from reoffending’’.

‘‘In the circumstances of this prosecution, and in careful consideration of all the available material, the Crown did not oppose a sentence of home detention to balance the need for accountability and deterrence while also maximising the opportunity for intensive rehabilitation of the young person,’’ Ms Pollett said, in a rare statement from a Crown solicitor.