Pensioner gets jail for sex assaults on teen

A Picton pensioner who ‘‘created and manufactured situations’’ to get a young boy on his own so that he could sexually assault him has been sent to prison.

Owen Stanley Schmelz, 74, has been sentenced to two years in jail following guilty pleas to six charges related to the sexual assault of a boy aged under 16.

The offending, which included sexual violation, indecent acts of a sexual nature and assault, took place in Picton, Blenheim and Christchurch last year.

Crown prosecutor Mark O’donoghue said the most important document to consider at sentencing yesterday was the victim impact statement from the teenager.

‘‘It’s short but it’s very telling,’’ he said, and went on to read from the impact statement: ‘‘Even when I said ‘no’ he didn’t listen. He made me feel like no-one would believe me.’’

Donaghue continued: ‘‘He [the victim] talked about struggling to feel normal and the shame of being abused.

‘‘It has the ring of a classic case of an old man grooming and sexually exploiting a vulnerable teenage boy.’’

O’donoghue said Schmelz had no insight into his offending, nor any remorse.

Schmelz, who was 73 at the time, befriended the victim’s family, a police summary of facts said.

Schmelz also encouraged the boy to join a group. The victim started going to meetings, the police summary said.

On one occasion, the victim attended a meeting in Blenheim. After arriving, Schmelz helped him put his uniform on, and pulled the victim’s shirt down before touching him inappropriately. This happened on a repeated basis.

The summary said the victim was confused as to why Schmelz continued to do this, but he enjoyed the group and being with others.

On another occasion, Schmelz shared a room with the victim.

The victim was getting dressed when Schmelz touched him over his uniform on three or four occasions.

One night in April last year, the victim stayed a night with Schmelz. They cooked dinner and watched movies, before the victim got tired and asked for a blanket.

Schmelz made excuses as to why he could not sleep in the spare room or on the couch, and the victim reluctantly went to his bedroom. Schmelz pulled back the sheets and touched the boy, before asking to kiss him.

The victim was shocked, embarrassed, and quickly pulled the sheets back over him, the police summary said.

He tried to leave but Schmelz stopped him. He tried to sleep but was restless thinking about what happened.

The victim became sad, depressed and lost his confidence as a result of the offending, the summary said.

Schmelz’s lawyer Rob Harris said his client had ‘‘a problem with acknowledging his actions’’. But in the past week, Schmelz had acknowledged the offending had a sexual component to it.

Harrison said there was ‘‘clearly remorse here’’, it had just not been well articulated.

‘‘He has to reassess his entire life and the decisions he has made, that is going to be a process,’’ he said.

Harrison called for the judge to consider home detention.

Judge Tony Zohrab said Schmelz was someone the victim ‘‘looked up to’’.

‘‘If you honestly believe there were no sexual intentions in that, you’ve got a lot of work to do. The only possible inference that can be drawn from what was going on in your actions was that you were sexually interested in him right from the get-go and you created and manufactured situations to have him on his own to test the water and to see how he responded.’’

He acknowledged Schmelz had recent insight into the offending, but said he had a ‘‘lingering concern’’ about whether it was genuine. ‘‘Your insight is too little and too late,’’ he said.

Judge Zohrab sentenced Schmelz to two years in prison.

He was given until June 5 to surrender himself to the court, to prepare arrangements for his four pets.

He was previously convicted and given his first strike, under the ‘‘three strikes’’ legislation.

That law meant that those who committed a second serious violent or sexual offence and were sentenced to prison would not be eligible for parole. Offenders convicted of a third strike were sentenced to the maximum penalty available.

With a few gentle reminders of the rules, and just the odd stern word, bar-goers in Marlborough behaved themselves at the weekend.

Marlborough Public House co-owner Paul Frost said his restaurant could hold 200 customers but under the alert level 2 rules he could only have 100 people in the venue, which meant only 85 customers and 15 staff.

‘‘The weekend was good for us, most people were polite and played by the rules, there were just a few that didn’t really want to play by the rules...

[but] they realised we were under pressure and most people on the whole were patient,’’

Frost said.

On Friday night, the bar was close to reaching capacity, Frost said.

The weekend was more about drinking, whereas last weekend was more about the restaurant, he said.

‘‘I’d just like to thank the public for supporting locals.’’

Biddy Kate’s Irish Bar owner Terry Sloan said customers were, for the most part, aware of the social distancing rules, however there were a few overseas customers who had to be told.

‘‘But once people understood [the rules] they were fine,’’ Sloan said.

Scotch Wine Bar owner Dan Gillett said it was good to see people supporting the town’s restaurants and bars.

Hotel d’urville manager Michelle Bradley said she was pleased with the behaviour of customers, and she was excited to have the bar open.

‘‘It was a really good vibe,’’ Bradley said.

‘‘The feeling was that guests were just happy to be able to come in and have a drink and relax, and socialise,’’ she said.

‘‘We seated them and took their order and delivered their drinks to them,’’ she said.

A police spokesperson said there had been no breaches in the Tasman District, which included Marlborough.

‘‘Nationally, there were seven breaches from Thursday 6pm until Sunday 6pm,’’ she said.