Sex abuser jailed for five years

A Waikato man with a 66-year history of sexually abusing children has been sentenced to preventive detention for coercing an intellectually disabled teenager into doing sex acts with him.

A minimum five-year nonparole period must be served by Kenneth Herbert Cheesman, 79, who appeared in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday. He had earlier pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual exploitation of a person with a significant impairment.

It was offending that took place between December 2016 and April last year, when Cheesman befriended the victim after she came to his home, looking for a friend who lived nearby.

From their first meeting, he encouraged the teenager to engage in sexual acts including kissing, fondling and vaginal penetration.

On three occasions he performed oral sex on the victim. He also purchased a vibrator, which he used on her. In exchange for the sexual conduct, he provided her with gifts, including cash and cigarettes.

The police summary of facts noted that the ‘‘defendant was aware that the victim suffered an impairment to the extent that it would affect her ability to make decisions or know the consequences of the sexual conduct’’.

He later told the police he regretted his actions, but he still cared deeply about the teenager. It was far from Cheesman’s first such offence.

He was jailed for 12 years in August 2002 after pleading guilty to 25 charges against eight girls, including rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, inducing a girl to do an indecent act and unlawful sexual connection.

Those charges related to attacks that happened between 1985 and 1990 in Hamilton, Raglan and Te Kuiti and involved girls aged between 7 and 13 years old. Cheesman initially denied the charges, however he later confessed and named victims the police had not known about. He told police he had an ‘‘uncontrollable addiction’’.

For those offences, Cheesman had a non-parole period of six years imposed by Justice Tony Randerson, who said there was an ‘‘alarming’’ risk that Cheesman, who started abusing children as a teenager, would reoffend.

According to the Sensible Sentencing Trust website, he was released from jail in 2010.

At his 2002 sentencing, the court was told Cheesman began preying on children when he was 13, as the result of being sexually abused himself.

He had previous convictions for sex crimes against children committed in 1969, 1972 and 1990, including a 21-month prison sentence handed down in 1991.

At his sentencing yesterday, Justice Christian Whata grappled with whether preventive detention should be imposed, given Cheesman’s advanced years.

It was warranted, he said, due to his ‘‘pervasive and habitual pattern of offending’’.

‘‘Not withstanding your age … I’m satisfied you are likely to commit another qualifying sexual offence.’’

Cheesman’s behaviour had been deliberate, persistent and pre-meditated, and he had effectively groomed his vulnerable victim, the judge said.

‘‘You considered her to be a consenting adult … You do not appear to be remorseful.’’

Neither age, nor the removal in hospital of Cheesman’s prostate – which physically prevents him from gaining an erection – had served as a barrier to curbing his crimes.

A victim impact statement from the teenager’s parents noted she had become moody and unhappy during the period Cheesman was offending against her.