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Prison for man who impregnated an impaired teen

Author
NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Wed, 24 Jan 2018, 11:51AM
The painter and decorator was found guilty by a Rotorua District Court jury of exploiting a young person with a significant impairment by sexual connection in June 2015, was sentenced on Wednesday.
The painter and decorator was found guilty by a Rotorua District Court jury of exploiting a young person with a significant impairment by sexual connection in June 2015, was sentenced on Wednesday.

Prison for man who impregnated an impaired teen

Author
NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Wed, 24 Jan 2018, 11:51AM

Making pregnant a severely mentally impaired teenager with no idea how babies came into being has confined Joseph Michael Stickings, 42, behind bars for five years.

The painter and decorator, who was earlier found guilty by a Rotorua District Court jury of exploiting a young person with a significant impairment by sexual connection in June 2015, was sentenced on Wednesday.

Judge Phillip Cooper rejected a claim from Stickings' lawyer Laura Owen, that he was remorseful, saying if he had been he'd have pleaded guilty, saving the teen the trauma of giving evidence.

The judge noted the birth of Stickings' child had a very significant impact on his victim with the mental capacity of a seven-year-old who had no idea what happened to her or how babies were made.

"Your friendship with the girl morphed into a sinister sexual relationship, it had a whiff of predatory sexual behaviour about it. You had unprotected sex with her making her pregnant, that is the stand-out feature of this case, from what you told the pre-sentence report writer you don't appear to understand the effect of your actions on the complainant and her whanau," Judge Cooper told Stickings.

He accepted Stickings had shown the girl some kindness by organising for her to have a skin condition attended to.

Ms Owen said Stickings hadn't set out to molest the impaired girl who he'd picked up while she was walking down Rotorua's Malfory Rd, then buying her KFC.

Their friendship developed from there.

She claimed he was keen to get to know the baby.

Crown solicitor Amanda Gordon argued Stickings had exploited and abused the girl's vulnerability and disability with an element of grooming and premeditation evident in his actions.

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