Mother wants sex offender out of community

A man traumatised a group of schoolgirls yet he’s still free to drive around the Waikato town where the incident took place. Matt Bowen reports.

A mother is angry that a man who she says robbed four girls of their childhood, is still allowed to live in the same community.

She wants Morrinsville residents to know who Shaun Hancock is. And she wants people to know what the 20-yearold did. It has been months since Hancock drove up to four 11-year-old girls on a suburban street and opened his car door so they could see him masturbating.

Yet the fear remains, according to the mother of one of the victims. The girls cut through to another road and called a parent, she said, but at the next street Hancock was there again. They thought he was following them. ‘‘That just made them absolutely panic. When my daughter got home she was absolutely terrified and crying and her biggest thing was, ‘mum, he looked me right in my eye, he was looking right in my eyes’.’’

Hancock pleaded guilty to one charge of performing an indecent act and was sentenced in the Morrinsville District Court on July 28.

‘‘In light of the seriousness of this offending and the long-term impacts on the families concerned, I have to impose the maximum period in terms of both intensive supervision and community detention,’’ Judge Peter Spiller said.

Hancock was ordered to participate in a drug and alcohol assessment, followed by any recommended treatment, and attend psychological counselling for 18 months.

A curfew was also imposed from 9pm to 6am, for six months.

Paternal instinct would see things done differently – a father of one of the girls felt stronger measures, such as two large rocks, could be used to take away Hancock’s sexual urge.

‘‘If you lose it, you can’t use it, that’s my philosophy. Burglary and violence, that’s not good, but I don’t know anyone that in any circumstances would do what this guy did.’’

Or, lock him up, he said. Indeed, the girls wanted him to disappear. It was up to the parents to explain that Hancock would remain in Morrinsville and they may see him again.

‘‘I don’t think [Hancock] fully realises the consequences of what he’s done. It’s [the girls’] introduction to not trusting men, basically.’’

The mother said Hancock’s excuse was a synthetic cannabis high and he didn’t know what he was doing.

It was an excuse she didn’t buy into and said no matter ‘‘how stoned you are’’, the offender would still be aware he was performing an indecent act in front of ‘‘little girls’’.

‘‘As much as we discussed it and we thought she was good with it, a couple of weeks ago I picked her up on her way home and she was white as a ghost. She said that man there, he pulled over and asked me where a street was. She’s got that whole fear of strangers now which is so wrong in a little community like Morrinsville. All the girls have just had their childhood robbed really.’’

‘‘I don’t think [Hancock] fully realises the consequences of what he’s done.’’