Family Anger over Sex Abuse Sentence

NZ City
November 14, 2013

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=177183&fm=newsmain%2Cnrhl

A prominent Kaitaia businessman who sexually abused several young boys has been jailed for almost six years.

The family of one of the victims of a Kaitaia business leader who sexually abused boys say his jail sentence is a "joke".

Former senior member of the Mormon Church Daniel Taylor, 35, was sentenced to five years and seven months' jail for nine counts of sexual offences against boys aged between 11 and 16 that he pleaded guilty to in September.

A number of the charges were representative.

In the High Court at Whangarei on Thursday, Justice Peter Woodhouse imposed a minimum non-parole period of two years and 10 months on Roberts.

It provoked disappointment from victims and their families.

Charles Hohaia, Te Waka Whaanui director and a counsellor, says families of the victims he talked to were disappointed by the sentence given that victims would need to live with what had happened to them for the rest of their lives.

Mr Hohaia said one victim's family called the sentence "a joke".

Another in the court punched the window of the witness box as Taylor, a former vice-president of the Kaitaia Business Association and Child, Youth and Family-approved carer, was being led away and told him that he should burn in hell.

Justice Woodhouse sentenced Taylor on six charges of indecently assaulting a boy aged between 12 and 16, one of indecent assault on a boy under 16, one charge of indecent assault on a boy aged over 16 and one of attempted sexual connection with a boy under 12.

He said while Taylor had spared victims the trauma of giving evidence in court it was unclear how much remorse Taylor felt given the level of premeditation shown.

Justice Woodhouse noted that letters of apology written to victims were just one sentence long.

In victim impact reports read out to the court several of the victims said they questioned their sexuality and were reluctant to talk about offences given Taylor's high standing in the community.

Victims talked about feelings of isolation with one talking of suicide saying: "When they asked me what you'd done I only told them about half of it because I was afraid of what it would do to my reputation and I spent the rest of the day feeling angry about all of it."

Detective Inspector Kevin Burke said while Taylor has been sentenced, the victims of his crime will remain victims for the rest of their lives.

He said police, who have also charged James Sanders with a number of sexual offences against children, wanted any other sexual abuse victims in Northland to come forward.

In August former Northland deputy principal James Parker was handed an indefinite prison sentence for sexually abusing 20 boys he taught after admitting 74 charges over a 13-year period.