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Offender Databases Dean Charlton

Dean James Charlton

Alias

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Offences

Abduction, rape and repeated sexual assault of a Christchurch woman in November 2001
Also threatened to kill a prison officer and his family

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1977

Current Location

Paparua prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 10 years with a 5 year minimum non-parole period in October 2002
Released December 2010, now back inside
Sentenced to a 9 month cumulative term in November 2011

Background
Christchurch Court News story here
Story from the Christchurch Press 24th Oct 2002
A man who abducted a woman from a street in daylight and raped and sexually violated her at the Halswell Quarry has been jailed for 10 years. The victim was walking home when Dean James Charlton, 25, unemployed, pulled up next to her in his car and offered her a lift. When she declined and tried to run away, he grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the vehicle. Charlton drove his captive to Quarry Hill in Halswell where the other offences occurred. He later pushed her out of his car on Halswell Road, where she managed to memorise the car's registration number as he drove off.

She went to a neighbouring house, and with the help of a female occupant, wrote down the number. Charlton denied the offending, but after a trial last month he was found guilty of rape, abduction, and two charges of sexual violation. At Charlton's sentencing in Christchurch yesterday Judge Murray Abbott noted that the jury came back with guilty verdicts despite a sustained attack by defence lawyer Elizabeth Bulger on the credibility and reliability of the complainant and her evidence. "The events have had a long-term psychological and emotional effect on (the complainant). That was very apparent from her demeanour while giving evidence," Judge Abbott said.

He accepted that she was a random victim and had not been targeted for her vulnerability, but said she had "personal difficulties", including experiencing a previous rape, that had magnified the effect of what happened last November. "It may be that a woman of greater physical and psychological strength may have been able to resist the initial assault in Cobham Street." Judge Abbott said Charlton did not have any sexual offending on his record, but his previous convictions included an assault on a woman, and breaches of a protection order.

He is currently serving a jail sentence for a disqualified driving conviction. He sentenced Charlton to 10 year's jail on the rape charge, and six years for the abduction and sexual violation charges, to be served concurrently. He ordered that Charlton serve a minimum of five years before becoming eligible for parole. In her submissions Ms Bulger had argued that a sentence of eight to nine years would sufficiently punish and deter. Detective Jason Bracegirdle, who investigated the case, said Charlton's conviction was pleasing given the concerns about his motives.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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