Serial sex abuser’s appeal dismissed

A serial sex offender has failed in his attempt to get his preventive detention sentence overturned.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal dismissed an application made by Nigel Allan Hauauru Nelson, who in 2016 was found guilty of 33 charges connected to the sexual abuse of 14 men. He previously pleaded guilty to representative charges of rape and indecent assault involving a 12-year-old girl.

Nelson was subsequently sentenced to the open-ended jail term of preventive detention. In August, he appealed against the sentence and his lawyer Kelly Marriner argued for the South Taranaki man to be given a chance to be educated out of his sexual deviancy.

The Court of Appeal judgment said Dr Justin Barry-Walsh, a forensic psychiatrist who assessed Nelson, described the defendant as ‘‘sexually deviant’’ - a risk factor which is closely associated with recidivism.

‘‘He noted several barriers to treatment: denials, a capacity for deception, a lack of victim empathy and evidence of a high sexual drive coupled with sexual deviancy,’’ the judgment said.

A psychologist also said Nelson’s sexual deviancy and limited insight into his offending remained barriers to his treatment.

But Marriner argued sentencing judge, Justice Edwin Wylie, erred in his assessment of Nelson’s future risk and that neither his age or prospects of rehabilitation had been sufficiently taken into account.

However, the three appeal judges did not agree and said there was evidence the deviant sexual preferences of Nelson were not easily treatable nor was it possible to say how his risk could be managed effectively.

Nelson’s serial offending began in 1994, when he was a teenager and spanned almost 20 years before he was arrested.

Court evidence detailed how he indecently assaulted young men while they slept or were passed out drunk.

Nelson also created a fake escort and porn business, which he used as a lure for men desperate for cash. After they agreed to photos being taken of them, Nelson would then engage in sex acts with the men without their consent.

The appeal judgment also makes reference to an incident in 2000, when Nelson was granted police diversion after being caught repeatedly cutting out peep holes in public toilets.