‘This is what mum and dads do . . .’

He was 40, she was 12.

Three decades later, David Theobald’s victim was in court to see him sentenced for actions that have had lifelong effects on her.

Now 74, and already having served eight years in jail for other sex offences, the Napier man was back in court for offending against the girl, which occurred before his stint behind bars.

This offending occurred in the mid1980s, at a time when the girl’s family socialised with Theobald and his son.

The girl wanted a 10-speed bicycle but her mother couldn’t afford one. Theobald bought her the bike, saying she could pay it off by cleaning his house for an hour each day.

The man had a spa pool and over time he encouraged her to bathe in the pool with him, naked. That led to him performing indecent acts on her and sharing a bed with her. As he did so, he told her: ‘‘This is what mums and dads do.’’

Theobald appeared before Judge Tony Adeane in Napier District Court yesterday, having pleaded guilty to three charges of indecency with a girl aged between 12 and 16.

Crown prosecutor Jo Rielly noted the maximum sentence for this charge had changed since Theobald’s offending and ‘‘despite the seriousness of the offending, and the effects of it’’, the maximum sentence for the charge at the time was only 21⁄2 years in prison.

Rielly said Theobald was already on the child sex offender register because of his other convictions.

Judge Adeane said the effects on victim, outlined in a victim impact statement, were predictable and well-known.

He said in July 1999 Theobald was sentenced to 81⁄2 years in jail for various sexual charges, including rape, that occurred in 1993-1996.

His earlier offending was not known at that stage, and if it had been included in the 1999 sentence it would have attracted, at most, an additional two years to the sentence.

The judge said Theobald had been the subject of an extended supervision order, had not reoffended, and was not at risk of reoffending. He sentenced him to eight months home detention.