Offender breaches release conditions

‘‘You must comply strictly with [conditions] for the protection of the public.’’ Judge Lance Rowe

A man who has sexually offended against a child while their mother was in the shower has landed back in jail.

Lawrence Richards pleaded guilty in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday to breaching his release conditions by going somewhere he is banned from.

He was jailed in late 2016 for 26 months for committing indecent acts on a child.

The offending happened on Boxing Day 2015, when the child, their mother and Richards were at the same house. He touched the child’s genitals and kissed them on the lower stomach while their mother was in the shower.

In court yesterday, duty lawyer Mark Alderdice said Richards had been released from prison with no assistance and nowhere to live, so he met an associate in a park to talk things through.

But Judge Lance Rowe pointed out GPS data from an electronicmonitoring anklet showed Richards went to the house of the mother of a victim.

Richards shook his head in the dock and said ‘‘no’’, denying he ever went there.

The judge said the conditions were strict for a reason. ‘‘There is no room to move on these conditions.

‘‘You must comply strictly with them for the protection of the public.’’

Richards was sentenced to one month in jail, the same amount of time he has already spent inside on remand.