Anger as serial groper avoids serving full term
A woman who was one of several grabbed by serial groper Jason Trembath still finds it hard to walk on her own.
Another, who was the subject of an intimate visual recording Trembath published on social media, was angry he did not serve his full prison sentence.
Trembath was due to be released on parole yesterday after being sentenced to five years and four months’ prison in 2019.
He pleaded guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault which took place in 2017, groping several women in Rotorua, Napier and Havelock North.
In a separate incident, a 2019 jury trial found both Trembath and friend Joshua Pauling not guilty of raping a woman in a Napier hotel room. But Trembath pleaded guilty to making an intimate visual recording of the woman and distributing the material by posting on a Facebook page of a Taradale Cricket Club team.
Pauling was found guilty of being a party to making an intimate visual recording.
Trembath was a manager at Bidfoods food distributors, a senior cricket player who had played at a representative level and was engaged to be married.
The woman involved in the trial wasn’t aware of Trembath’s parole release until hearing about it only a few days ago. Neither woman Stuff spoke to can be named for legal reasons.
‘‘I am disappointed that he didn’t have to serve even half of his sentence before being released, but most of my anger is directed towards the justice system because that’s where the flaws are,’’ she said.
‘‘Defence lawyers are allowed to tear apart victims in regards to their clothing, personality, footwear, words spoken, even the colour of lipstick worn.’’
However, she said the law did not require the same kind of scrutiny of defendants.
One of the women Trembath grabbed during his bizarre spree in Hawke’s Bay said she still struggles to walk alone since the incident.
She was walking to the park in Havelock North with her young son when Trembath groped her.
The woman noticed him walk past her earlier, but it wasn’t until she walked home that he came up behind her, lifted her skirt and grabbed her.
‘‘It happened so quickly and then he ran. What really freaked me out was all the planning he’d done around it. When the detectives showed me the photos, and he’d followed me for a full two hours, changed his clothes and moved his car to get different views of us,’’ the woman said.
The NZ Parole Board said Trembath had completed psychological treatment and ‘‘helpful written submissions’’ from his counsel noted he’d done 16 sessions and had a wha¯ nau hui to discuss his safety relapse plan.
Trembath, who was described as a mentor and role model in prison, appeared to have a ‘‘much better insight and understanding of how his various personality traits came to bear on his offending and lead him into a series of frightening offences,’’ the parole board decision said.
The board was satisfied the risk would not be excessive if he was released on parole with the appropriate release conditions. These included a 10pm to 6am curfew, but not full electronic monitoring, which would be ‘‘overly onerous’’.