Repeat sex attacker jailed for rape
A New Zealand representative wrestler was called ‘‘a nasty, evil man’’ by the woman he raped in 1994 before he was imprisoned for nearly 13 years.
Devon Charles Bond, 49, abducted a second female jogger near Waikuku, in North Canterbury, a year after the night-time armed home invasion in which he tied, raped and violated a woman at her Burwood home.
He served a seven-year, sixmonth term for the Waikuku attack.
He was caught by a DNA database match in December 2014, and pleaded guilty to the new charges on the day of his High Court trial on May 2 this year.
Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier read out the victim’s statement at Bond’s sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.
She said: ‘‘How smug you must have felt when you hadn’t been linked to my case. You must have thought you had got away with it.
‘‘Well, you didn’t get away with it. Science has caught you and there’s no way out of it for you.’’
The victim said the attack changed her life.
‘‘You haven’t ruined my life because I was determined that it would not happen, but you have seriously disrupted it, and you have stolen my freedom and my rights to live a fairly happy life.
‘‘You are a nasty, evil man who needs to be taken off the streets for the longest possible time,’’ she said.
Defence counsel Tony Greig said Bond believed he had done what was necessary to leave the lifestyle behind.
He believed the offending arose from the combination of the gang friends he had, the drugs and alcohol he was bingeing on, and his negative attitudes towards women.
Bond pleaded guilty to the armed burglary of a home, assault with a weapon for threatening the woman victim with a knife, kidnapping, two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and a charge of rape.
Justice Gerald Nation said the victim had shown considerable courage.
Bond attacked the 42-year-old woman, who was asleep at home when Bond broke in and turned off the power at 1am.
He tied her up with a length of clothes line, put a pillowcase over her head, and sexually violated her. He ripped her phone out, and threatened her before he left.
The woman freed herself and ran to get help from neighbours.
A year later, Bond abducted a 37-year-old jogger along a riverbank near Waikuku, tying her hands with her top and pushing her into the boot of his car. She managed to release the boot and jump from the moving car.
Bond was caught by a DNA match after being convicted on charges of disorderly behaviour and resisting and assaulting a constable, after being arrested for a rowdy incident at a boxing event in December 2014.
The judge said there was serious premeditation, preparation, and intimidation in the Burwood home invasion.
He said was sceptical about Bond’s claimed loss of memory.
‘‘The case against you was very strong. The guilty plea was simply a matter of facing up to the inevitable.’’
He jailed Bond for 12 years and nine months, with a non-parole term of eight years.
Justice Nation considered the Crown’s bid for a preventive detention term, saying Bond, who was 27 at the time of the offence, could be jailed indefinitely if he was assessed as posing a significant risk of committing a further sexual or violent offence after release.
He said Bond’s anti-social behaviour emerged as a child when he set fire to the family cat.
His life changed when he was injured and unable to compete as a wrestler. He began using alcohol and drugs, and became involved with a gang as a debt collector.
The judge decided he could impose a finite term of imprisonment, by a fine margin, taking into treatment and the ability to have an extended supervision order in place at the time of Bond’s release.