Indecency wrecks woman’s security
She fended off his advances and even offered to make a cuppa to halt the attack.
But that didn’t stop Colin James Bourke, 69, from coming back for a second barrage of indecent assaults, touching the woman’s breasts and forcing her to kiss him.
Minutes earlier, Bourke had burst into the woman’s caravan at a Manawatu¯ holiday park, where they both lived, and told her she was beautiful.
He grabbed her shoulder and hugged her tight, despite the woman’s best effort to pull away.
When Bourke kissed her, she pushed him on to the sofa and begged for a reprieve.
He got to his feet and made sexual remarks about her breasts and body. He then touched her breasts and left the caravan.
In a statement read to the Palmerston North District Court yesterday by a relative, the woman, who is in her 50s, said she was so disgusted by the attack in July that she had discarded everything in her caravan that he had touched, including floor mats, cups and furniture. ‘‘My caravan feels empty. I wish to live in it no longer, but I have no option. It is all I can afford,’’ the statement said.
Dressed in blue jeans and a camo jacket, Bourke showed little emotion as Judge Stephanie Edwards sentenced him to five months behind bars.
In the weeks following the attack, the woman feared Bourke would return and wouldn’t leave her caravan unless a friend was with her.
She fell behind in her studies and stopped part-time work, borrowing money to pay for essentials such as food and petrol.
‘‘In my own home I am a prisoner. If I could sleep and never wake up that would be great,’’ she said. ‘‘He did not knock.
‘‘He was not invited. We were not friends.
‘‘I can’t forget the smell of his breath and odour.’’
The woman now locked her windows and doors all day and night, and was scared whenever there was a knock at the door.
She struggled to sleep and suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, and had called helplines late at night.
‘‘I have isolated myself from everyone. I have stopped caring about everything, including me.’’
Defence lawyer Richard Bedford said his client was ‘‘cofuddled’’ on alcohol at the time of the attack and was deeply remorseful. ‘‘He offered some compliments ... but [they] weren’t received in that way.’’
Bedford said Bourke had benefited from spending the past few weeks in prison, which had helped him live a cleaner life without alcohol. ‘‘He hopes to stay on that path going forward.’’
The judge said the woman feared Bourke would become angry when she rejected his advances and pre-emptively tried to make him a cup of coffee.
She described the offending as ‘‘persistent and unwanted’’.
‘‘The last action occurred after she pushed you away so you ignored her protest.’’
Bourke had violated the woman’s security, leaving longterm emotional scars.
‘‘He was not invited. We were not friends.’’ Victim’s statement