Man jailed indefinitely for sexually motivated attacks committed 25 years apart

AUCKLAND: Recidivist rapist and serial predator Colin Jack Mitchell has been sent to prison indefinitely for two brutal and sexually motivated attacks on women in Auckland 25 years apart.

In March, on the day Mitchell turned 60, a jury found him guilty of abducting a young woman from Ponsonby, then wounding and assaulting her at a quarry in Riverhead, West Auckland.

After the trial, Mitchell was found guilty of the historic unsolved rape of a West Auckland mum in 1992.

In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Justice Sally Fitzgerald sentenced Mitchell to preventive detention for the offend ing and imposed a further sentence of preventive detention.

Preventive detention is an indeterminate prison sentence where, even if prisoners are released on parole, they remain under the management and monitoring of Corrections for the rest of their life.

Sentencing began with the 24yearold woman Mitchell attacked at the quarry reading a Victim Impact Statement.

The contents of her statement were suppressed by Justice Fitzgerald, meaning the Herald cannot report what the survivor told the court.

As she read, Mitchell sat in the dock, his face expressionless.

Crown Prosecutor Kirsten Lummis said the victim was still ‘‘fighting back’’ to return to her normal daily life after the ‘‘sheer terror’’ Mitchell inflicted on her.

The 1992 survivor was not in court and did not provide a victim impact statement, but Lummis said the woman’s evidence during the trial clearly showed the ongoing effects of her ordeal.

Lummis said there were significant aggravating factors to both the 1992 and 2017 attacks.

She said there was planning and premeditation and the only appropriate sentence was preventive detention.

‘‘In light of the lengthy period of offending . . .Yes, there are gaps, but the Crown submits that does not detract from the nature of the offending.’’

Defence lawyer Mark Ryan said a ‘‘lengthy determinate sentence was preferable’’. He said the gap between offending showed there was ‘‘no pattern’’ to Mitchell’s actions.

He suggested a determinate sentence followed by an extended supervision order would be more appropriate.

The Parole Board would be responsible for making such an order but Ryan suggested Justice Fitzgerald could ‘‘endorse’’ it in advance.