Man preyed on teens

A Christchurch businessman who preyed sexually on vulnerable teenage girls has been jailed for four years and nine months on 11 indecency charges. Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert said 62-year-old John Michael Condon’s behaviour had been ‘‘premeditated and frankly disgusting’’. Some of the victims from Condon’s offending against 13 to 16-year-old females, which ended more than a decade ago, were in court to see him jailed. He has been in custody on remand for two years, before pleading guilty just as his jury trial was due to begin this month. Judge Gilbert allowed some sentence reduction for the guilty pleas which meant the seven women did not have to give evidence. Condon admitted 11 charges of indecent assault and a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.