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Offender Databases Warren Hales

Warren Graham Hales

Alias

.

Offences

The abduction of a 20 year old woman in Mt Maunganui in January 1989
Was initially convicted of rape

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

Brad Shipton
Bob Schollum
Peter McNamara

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1965

Current Location

At large

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 5 years 6 months in August 2005
This was later changed to 18 months after retrial
Released February 2006

Background
NZ Herald story here with earlier story here (subscription only)

Condensed version

Four men convicted last month of a pack rape at Mt Mauganui 16 years ago have been jailed for between 5-1/2 and 8-1/2 years. Peter Mana McNamara, 46, a Mt Maunganui businessman, Tauranga fireman Warren Graham Hales, 40, and two men aged 47 and 53, whose names are suppressed, were found guilty of unlawfully detaining and raping a 20-year-old woman. The two unnamed men were also found guilty of unlawful sexual violation and one of them was convicted of a second rape charge. Both men were acquitted of sexually violating the woman with an object.

She told the court that the men lured her into a hut on the pretext of a lunch date with one of the unnamed men in January 1989. Once there she was bound, raped, forced to perform oral sex and brutally violated. Judge Young said aggravating features were that the rape was premeditated and the victim was restrained. The victim read an emotional victim impact statement to the court. She broke down as she described how the pack rape had affected her life. During their trial the men maintained the woman had orchestrated consensual group sex and denied restraining her.

Sentencing notes of 05.08.05 by Justice Young as follows;
'The complainant was a young woman of 20 years of age. She was employed by a radio station as a promotions manager, and during the Christmas break that year she worked at the beach at Mt Maunganui promoting her radio station. During the course of her work she met you Shipton, and you Schollum, when apparently as part of your police duties you visited her caravan which was her place of work. She got to know you both on a casual but friendly basis. You were both of course considerably older than her. You McNamara, were one of the head lifeguards at Mt Maunganui that year, and you Hales, one of the lifeguards. The complainant came into contact with you McNamara, as part of your and her job. One evening she asked you McNamara, if you could see if Shipton was interested in a lunch date with her.

A challenge was issued and accepted that if she could hang on during a rescue boat ride through the surf you would arrange a lunch date for her with Shipton. She held on during the ride and she looked to you to keep your side of the bargain. It is impossible to know what precisely happened immediately then, but I am satisfied that you McNamara, Shipton and Schollum, planned to use this young woman’s interest in Shipton to get her to the Tay Street Tower and rape her. These events were clearly pre-planned by the three of you at least. It involved one of you taking a mattress down to the Tay Street Tower . It involved you McNamara spreading the word that consensual group sex was going to take place. It involved you Shipton and Schollum arranging to be at the tower at a pre-arranged time with McNamara. The young woman was taken down the beach by you McNamara. She thought she was going to meet Shipton and then go off to lunch. You knew you were taking her to the tower to be sexually violated. I accept in all probability that Hales did not know when then invited to go to the tower by McNamara that the complainant was to be raped. You McNamara then escorted her to the tower where you Shipton and Schollum waited.

The complainant described in her evidence the terror she felt on realising what was to happen to her. She understandably said, beyond rape, which she knew was inevitable, that she had no idea what was going to happen to her that day.

You Hales, were also present, although on the veranda, while she was handcuffed, raped and sexually violated by you McNamara, Shipton, Schollum and another. You Hales then had the chance to intervene. Even though you were young at 18 years of age you knew what was happening was terribly wrong. Each of you raped this defenceless woman, as did a fifth man. It was a pack rape in the worst sense. She was, in her words, treated by you like a “piece of meat”. After the rape you Shipton and Schollum visited the complainant at the caravan and you Shipton visited her at the motel. She understood (and I understand) the message that she was being given by you by that visit. You were the police. There would be no complaint. You knew where she lived. And your intimidation worked. She did not complain.

Her life changed, her personality changed, she paid a high price for your brutality to her, but eventually she had the courage to come forward and complain. You Shipton and Schollum were corrupt police officers. You used the authority the community entrusted in you to do right. Your arrogance, in my view, knew no bounds. You were confident you could commit a serious crime and get away with it because you were policemen – and you almost did. These were deeply disgraceful acts. You McNamara also used your position, again one the community entrusted in you. You used the veneer of respectability that the position of head lifeguard gave you to manipulate this young woman. Your conduct was a disgrace….'

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Corrections and Additional Information
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