Beach ban for serial flasher

After jumping out at girls naked at beaches and wandering around with his genitals exposed, a man has been banned from beaches as part of his sentence.

Nathan Henry Rossiter had been sentenced in 2018 to two years and three months in jail after he had leapt out at girls on Cooks Beach in the Coromandel. He had waited for the girls to be alone before jumping naked out of the bushes. He was put on the sex offenders’ register for 15 years, served his time and was released.

But over New Year when he was at Fitzroy Beach in New Plymouth, he pulled his shorts down and exposed himself to more girls as he walked around.

On Wednesday Hutt Valley District Court judge Michael Mika sentenced him to six weeks of home detention, which is a community alternative to imprisonment if the proposed jail term comes under two years.

Rossiter had pleaded guilty to doing an indecent act and failing to comply with the reporting terms of being a registered sex offender.

Rossiter, who is now living in Lower Hutt, would normally have to reveal any travel details but had travelled to New Plymouth without getting approval.

The 10-year-old victim, who had told her parents, went back to the beach the next day and spotted Rossiter again.

She has been left emotional, tearful and fearful of going to the beach.

Judge Mika ordered Rossiter to undertake an assessment for WellStop that runs programmes to stop sexual abuse.

One of the conditions of Rossiter’s sentence was that he was not to go near or on a beach and could not have contact with anyone under the age of 16 without approved supervision.

His lawyer, Chris Nicholls, said working with WellStop would allow him to identify triggers and vulnerabilities to prevent anything like this happening again.

Rossiter has a history of doing indecent acts in public, including flashing and covertly photographing women.