‘Sick and evil person’ — sexual predator jailed

WARNING: This story deals with sexual offending and may be distressing.

A depraved sexual predator who degraded his vulnerable victims both physically and psychologically has avoided an indefinite prison sentence but has been told his future is in his hands.

David Falamoe appeared before Justice Francis Cooke in the High Court at Wellington on Friday for sentencing on a raft of sex charges.

Falamoe’s offending took place during a five-year period in the Whanganui region and involved five victims, including two children aged 6 and 10, an adult woman with mental health issues, a vulnerable teenager who he punched in the stomach when she claimed she was pregnant and a gender-fluid individual, the court heard.

The 41-year-old was found guilty on a significant number of the charges by juries following two High Court trials in June and November 2022, and he only avoided standing trial for a third time by pleading guilty to a charge of indecent assault at the end of his second trial.

On one occasion Falamoe degraded his victim by coercing her to let his dog get involved in a sex act but the dog only licked her ankle.

Justice Cooke said Falamoe was an intelligent and manipulative person whose offending involved a common theme of getting close to his victims before using physical violence and psychological pressure, including threats of self-harm, to get them to agree to demeaning sexual abuse.

“You are a sexual predator who uses whatever means available to get whatever you wanted,” he told Falamoe.

Whanganui Crown solicitor Michele Wilkinson-Smith argued a sentence of preventive detention was justified, not to punish Falamoe but to provide protection to the community from ongoing harm.

Wilkinson-Smith said Falamoe, who had 65 previous convictions — 29 for violence mainly against intimate partners — had shown no remorse for his actions and no insight into the harm he had caused.

She said the lifelong sentence would allow the flexibility to protect the public from Falamoe in the future, if treatment programmes were not effective.

“If he makes progress, he can be released.

“If he fails, he goes back to prison.” Defence lawyer John Gwilliam submitted Falamoe had suffered his own personal trauma, witnessed his father die in front of him, suffered from a personality disorder as well as addiction issues and preventive detention was not appropriate.

Gwilliam said Falamoe had shown he could control himself by ceasing some of his abusive attacks due to the protests of his victims, and should be given the benefit of the doubt.

He argued a sentence start point of 12 years’ imprisonment was appropriate and a minimum non-parole period was not required.

As the hearing got under way, victim impact statements were read out by the court’s victims’ adviser detailing how they were disgusted by Falamoe’s actions, which they described as a breach of trust.

“I feel like I’ve let my daughter down,” the mother of one of the young girls said. “I feel guilty, I should have been able to protect her.”

Others detailed having flashbacks, suffering anxiety, turning to alcohol to cope, and being left feeling angry, disgusted, and feeling dirty by what they’d suffered at Falamoe’s hands.

“He’s a sick and evil person, he ruined part of me I can never get back,” one said.

One victim said she felt too embarrassed for a long time to confide in her whānau about how Falamoe had described her as an ape and tried to get her to have sex with his dog, but was relieved to get hugs and support when she finally opened up to them.

“Just who is the ape now? I’m not the one who is enclosed,” her victim impact statement read.

Justice Cooke said while there was a pattern in Falamoe’s offending to satisfy his own sexual gratification and he currently posed an aboveaverage risk of reoffending, it didn’t reach the threshold to impose preventive detention.

Falamoe was sentenced to a total of 13 years’ imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of five years and six months but failing to address underlying issues could see him required to serve the full term, Justice Cooke warned.