CEO rapist appeals term

The chief executive of a Christchurch-based company who repeatedly raped a young girl and filmed himself abusing her is appealing against his sentence.

Wayne Smith, the former boss of public transport technology company Connexionz, appeared in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday through his lawyer, Andrew McCormick, to appeal his sentence. Smith, 53, was jailed for 17 years by Judge Raoul Neave in February after pleading guilty to 38 child sex charges, including filming himself sexually violating a child. His name suppression lapsed on Wednesday.

Smith was appointed chief executive of Connexionz in October 2018 after having senior international roles with Airways, Thales, and Hewlett Packard. He was previously chief executive at Aeropath.

In the High Court yesterday, McCormick submitted there were several similar cases to Smith’s – some with more victims and more egregious aggravating factors, particularly more premeditation – who were given lesser starting points than what Smith received at sentencing. He was also not given the full 25% discount for an early guilty plea. McCormick also mentioned Smith could have gone to trial but didn’t, sparing the family from being dragged through the grim details of the case.

Crown prosecutor Deirdre Elsmore said said Judge Neave was accurate in delivering a sentence of 17 years, given the degree of premeditation and culpability from Smith. He was given an ‘‘incredibly generous’’ discount, which the Crown did not support, for good character, given his offending went on for the best part of 10 years, she said.

Justice Rob Osborne reserved his decision.