Hairdresser sent to jail for assaults on clients
Man indecently assaulted four elderly victims in ‘brazen’ acts in 2015 and 2018
ABay of Plenty hairdresser who indecently assaulted his clients has been jailed. Earlier this year, a jury found Aaron Robert Smith guilty of seven charges of indecent assault.
Four victims were involved, aged 50-plus.
The assaults happened in 2015 and 2018, when Smith was aged in his early 40s.
He had business dealings with one of the victims, and the other three went to him for haircuts.
Smith was sentenced at the Tauranga District Court yesterday morning.
Heappeared before Judge Thomas Ingram via audio-visual link from prison.
The court heard Smith’s offending included groping victims.
Crown solicitor Ella Collis described the acts as “brazen, arrogant and entitled”.
Judge Ingram said the “completely unwanted sexual attention” had “significantly affected” the women, and this would likely continue “for many years to come”.
I have little doubt that the responsibility [for the offending] will become increasingly obvious, as will the consequences. Judge Thomas Ingram
He did not, however, accept the Crown’s argument that the offending was premeditated. Instead, he deemed it “opportunistic”.
Ingram said the hairdresser had “a substantial book of clients” and evidence suggested he was “an engaging, personable man”.
But he abused the trust of the very clients he had attracted.
“I have little doubt that the responsibility [ for the offending] will become increasingly obvious, as will the consequences.”
To denounce Smith’s actions, Ingram said he could not give a sentence of home detention, it had to be imprisonment.
But he did give Smith a “modest credit” for good character, reducing his sentence from two years and six months to two years and three months.
Ingram said Smith intended to change careers and he encouraged the hairdresser to take up opportunities for rehabilitation.
Smith remained silent and still throughout his appearance, and his mother and stepfather supported each other in the public gallery.
He had 14 previous convictions but none were of a sexual nature, they were mostly driving offences.