Warning: This story contains details of sexual offending against children.

A man who crept into a young girl’s bedroom and filmed himself sexually assaulting her as she slept has tried to blame alcohol for his actions.

Using the light from his cellphone, Mehul Kathri Chethri assaulted his victim, filming the encounters over a period of several weeks. Police would later find the recordings on his phone.

The then 26-year-old’s offending only stopped when the girl awoke while Kathri Chetri was touching her.

Kathri Chethri fled the room, and the girl told her parents, who reported the matter to the police.

The girl was too young to make a victim impact statement and her mother made one on her behalf, saying her daughter was unaware she’d been filmed.

But since the incident, she has refused to sleep alone or in the dark.

Crown prosecutor Rushika De Silva submitted that the aggravating features of the case included the vulnerability of the victim, the filming, and the mild planning and premeditation.

Earlier, Kathri Chethri accepted a sentencing indication of seven years’ jail, with Judge David Laurenson, KC, indicating further discounts for his guilty pleas and any personal factors that arose from the pre-sentence report.

But those personal factors were the subject of some debate at his recent sentencing in the Wellington District Court.

Lawyer Karun Lakshman urged the court to approach the sentencing reports with caution, as neither had been prepared with a professionally trained interpreter present.

Because of this, he said, the court should err on the side of caution.

The court heard the pre-sentence report, which recommended imprisonment, cast doubt on Kathri Chethri’s remorse, suggesting he had little understanding of the harm he’d caused.

While he said he was sorry, he’d suggested the offending was an accident, explaining he thought he was in the “washroom”.

Meanwhile, the alcohol and drug report suggested Kathri Chethri blamed substance abuse for his offending.

The judge said he was prepared to treat the reported comments about remorse with caution because of Kathri Chethri’s limited English, noting he had expressed remorse to his lawyer and indicated a willingness to take part in restorative justice.

But he wasn’t impressed by Kathri Chetri’s attempts to blame alcohol for the offending, saying it was clearly sexually motivated.

After applying discounts for Kathri Chetri’s guilty pleas, remorse and willingness to engage in restorative justice, Kathri Chetri was jailed for four years and two months on six charges, including doing an indecent act, unlawful sexual connection, making an objectionable publication, and indecent assault.

The judge also ordered the recordings on Kathri Chetri’s phone to be destroyed. He will be placed on the sex offender register, but the court heard he’s likely to be deported once he’s served his sentence.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.