Ex-partner of convicted rapist ‘tired of feeling scared all the time’
Woman claims he has been abusive towards her and crept outside her home in the middle of the night after they broke up. By
THE ex-partner of a convicted rapist deported to New Zealand claims he has been abusive towards her and crept outside her home in the middle of the night after they broke up.
Jonathan Dooner, 49, was sentenced in the Southport
District Court on the Gold Coast in August 2019, to five years’ imprisonment after he admitted raping Nicole Cheetham, a woman he met while working as a personal trainer at a gym in 2017.
Because he had spent more than a year on remand, he was released from prison six months later and deported to New Zealand on February 10, 2020.
In an earlier interview, after Dooner arrived in New Zealand, Cheetham said she lay awake at night worrying Dooner might strike again, and warned women to stay away from him.
‘‘He’s a disgraceful human being.’’
Another woman, who Sunday News has chosen not to identify, claims she began a relationship with Dooner in April 2020 after meeting on dating app Tinder. The relationship ended on Christmas Day that year.
She said the relationship began well, with Dooner telling her he loved her and wanted to marry her. She said things appeared to be moving quickly, but she also fell in love with him.
In mid-June 2020 she found out he had been convicted of rape. Cheetham messaged her on social media with a link to a Stuff article.
The woman claimed Dooner told her he was innocent. Initially she believed him.
As the relationship progressed Dooner became ‘‘quite forceful’’ physically. She claims he would put her in headlocks or restraint holds, which sometimes caused bruises. She told him not to do it,
but he said it was a joke.
She claimed that on one occasion in late June after they had gone to bed Dooner tried to kiss her, and got angry when she was not in the mood and asked why she would not kiss him.
She tried to cover her face, worried he was going to hit her. She claims he then grabbed her arms and pinned her down and yelled at her.
He eventually walked out.
After the incident, the woman started to believe the rape in Australia had happened.
Dooner eventually changed his name and now goes by Oliver Crawford. The ex-partner said Dooner told her it was for work purposes.
On January 6, she received an email from Mitre 10 regarding kitchen measurements for her new $5000 kitchen. The ex-partner, who had no idea about the kitchen, replied there must be a mistake.
The following day she called Mitre 10 which told her Dooner ordered the kitchen on December 30.
An email from a staff member at Mitre 10, seen by Sunday News,
said Dooner visited the store and said the $5000 kitchen was a gift for his partner’s birthday. The expartner was worried she would be liable for the kitchen, but as no money had been exchanged the order was cancelled.
On January 11, she came across a letter from Dooner that had been left while she was on holiday in Queenstown with her daughter. In the four-page letter, Dooner wrote he spent two years in jail, but the person he became after leaving was ‘‘totally different’’.
He said he kept some things from her, ‘‘but in the scheme of things, my devotion to you was complete’’. Later in the letter, he wrote he was just a man who had ‘‘gone through s...’’.
On January 24, she was in bed about midnight when she heard some noises at her front door which sounded like someone was trying to open it.
The next morning she realised her front door handle had been broken, with the outside handle bent. Police were called with a scene of crime officer taking fingerprints. She believes Dooner was responsible.
After the incident, she installed a security camera. Shortly after, CCTV footage captured a man, who she believes to be Dooner, creeping around her home in the dark of night. She immediately called police, but the man was gone by the time they arrived.
Since then, the woman claims Dooner has continued to visit her home and tried contacting her through third parties.
She said she was ‘‘tired of feeling scared all the time’’.
‘‘I’m scared to go outside at night. I used to love to run every night, and now it feels like it isn’t safe. I’m afraid to be alone by myself in the house at night, I don’t know if he might be outside watching me. I want to move on, but I’m too afraid to meet anyone because I don’t know what he might do to them. Or to me.’’
Dooner told Sunday News the allegations made by his ex-partner were ‘‘completely false’’, and claimed he had text messages and Facebook messages to support him. He declined to supply the messages.
He claimed he had not gone anywhere near the ex-partner since they broke up and did not know who the man was who crept outside her home.
‘‘I have alibis for the incident and I also have GPS on my phone that says I haven’t been anywhere near the property.’’
He said the alibis were supplied to the police. He further claimed he ended the relationship because of messages he saw on his expartner’s phone that he believed showed she was seeing other men.
Counties Manukau Police Inspector Colin Higson said police had responded to every call for service from the woman.
‘‘Police took the appropriate action based on the circumstances of each incident, and the concerns raised by the complainant were taken seriously, including the deployment of several police cars, including a police dog and handler, on the occasion when it was reported that a male was on her property in the early hours of the morning.’’
Police could only prosecute when there was sufficient evidence, and on that occasion, there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.
In February, police received a report by a third party that a man had been seen near the complainant’s property, however following a number of inquiries there was no way to identify the man, Higson said.
Police received a report earlier this month from Dooner’s expartner, which they are following up.
A Corrections spokeswoman said the man had been issued a non-association order directing him not to contact his ex-partner.
Dooner, who is subject to a Returning Offenders Order, was managed in the same way as if they had been released from prison in New Zealand. Community Corrections staff managed their compliance with a number of standard release conditions.
Potential penalties can include breach action, increased reporting to Community Corrections or formal prosecution potentially resulting in imprisonment.
Dooner had earlier said he did not rape Cheetham – ‘‘it’s totally fabricated’’ – but he pleaded guilty because he had no money to fight the charge.
‘ I want to move on, but I’m too afraid to meet anyone because I don’t know what he might do to them. Or to me.’ EX-PARTNER OF JONATHAN DOONER, RIGHT