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Offender Databases Alexandre Harpur

Alexandre James Pancheri Harpur

Alias

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Offences

Rape, sexual violation (x4) and attempted unlawful sexual connection of a four year old Palmerston North girl in 2005
Also making objectionable material (x12)

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1971

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 10 years with a 6 year minimum non-parole period in February 2011

Background
NZ Herald story here
TV3 News story here
Manawatu Standard story 29th April 2009
A former Waiouru Army sergeant changed his plea to guilty on charges of sexual violation against an underage girl in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday. Alexandre James Pancheri Harpur, 39, admitted seven sexual violation charges and 10 of taking offensive photographs of a girl under the age of 12. He dropped his head when he was read a charge of raping a girl in Pahiatua on May 29, 2005 meekly uttering "guilty" in response.

Defence lawyer Jock Turnbull said there was "now no defence available to Mr Harpur" and he would not seek bail. Harpur, whose packed bag waited beside the cell door, kept his face turned away from the public gallery throughout his appearance. Judge Gerard Lynch convicted and remanded him in custody until sentencing on June 18.

Harpur was arrested and charged after police lured him into a trap at the Esplanade on January 13 last year. Police were contacted by a woman Harpur sent text messages to, arranging to meet near the children's paddling pool with her young daughter and niece, a court was told last year.

Manawatu Standard story 20th May 2008
A former Waiouru Army sergeant allegedly caught attempting to meet children in Palmerston North for sex was found to have child pornography on his cellphone and laptop computer. Alexandre Harpur, 37, was committed to stand trial on sex charges after a depositions hearing at the Palmerston North District Court yesterday. Harpur was charged with the attempted sexual violation of two girls aged 10 and four after police lured him into a trap at the Esplanade on January 13. He faces four other sexual violation charges which relate to another complainant aged under 12. Harpur has since left his job at Waiouru Military Camp.

It is understood the attempted violation charge stemmed from text messages in which Harpur sought to arrange to meet a woman, who he believed to be in her 20s, and her young daughter and niece.Unbeknown to Harpur, his messages were intercepted by police after the woman he contacted to arrange the liaison came forward. Harpur arranged to meet the woman at the Esplanade near the children's paddling pool and bird aviaries about 9.40am. Three police officers stationed themselves around the park to find a man they only knew as "Adam".

Harpur was later found to be carrying the phone the complainant was ringing. Detective James Bugg, who first approached the defendant in the Esplanade, said Harpur appeared "anxious and edgy". Harpur denied he was meeting anyone and said he was a hunter, out for a "look around". Harpur said he'd planned on going for a swim at the Lido, but changed his mind. Mr Bugg told Harpur he didn't believe his explanation and handcuffed Harpur, believing he might try to run.

Harpur later admitted he was attempting to meet a woman he'd known for a week, who had been texting him "a lot" and answering with "send me more" when he sent sexually explicit phone pictures of himself. Harpur said that he'd initially lied to police because he "knew he was in the shit". "I'm not going to say it wasn't me. But I know I'm f***ed" Harpur said.

A search of Harpur's ute he'd driven to the Esplanade uncovered two firearms, a laptop, four cellphones, motel receipts, CDs and other data storage devices all seized by police. Police later found sexually explicit images of children on the laptop and one of the cellphones. Harpur's lawyer Jock Turnbull said he accepted his client had a case to answer in relation to the attempted violation charge.

A challenge would be lodged before trial about the admissibility of some of the Crown's evidence and whether the search on Harpur's ute, executed without a search warrant, was lawful and reasonable, Mr Turnbull said. Judge Gregory Ross remanded Harpur on bail to re-appear in the High Court at Palmerston North for trial call-over on June 24. One of his bail conditions is not to have unsupervised contact with children under 16

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Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

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