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Unlawful sexual connection with a girl under 12 (x2), indecently assaulting her (x3) and inciting her to perform an indecent act on him (x2) between December 1991 to December 1996.
Previous convictions for indecent assault and unlawful sexual connection in 1993, assaulting a female and breaching a protection order at Mataura in 2006
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none known
Born 1961
Prison
Sentenced to 7 years 9 months in April 2010
A 4 year 6 month non-parole period was set
Background
From Southland Times artitcle 20th April 2010
A 48-year-old Gore man who sexually abused a girl during a five- year period was sentenced to more than seven years' jail yesterday. Paul Thomas Neumann appeared for sentence in the Invercargill District Court on two charges of unlawful sexual connection with the girl, three of indecently assaulting her and two of inciting her to perform an indecent act on him.
The representative charges spanned December 1991 to December 1996, when the girl was between 6 and 11. He was found guilty on all charges by a jury in November. Judge Kevin Phillips said from the outset the acts occurred regularly. He gained access to his victim under the guise of reading her bedtime stories on frequent visits to her house. The court was told Neumann had prior convictions for similar offending, including indecent assault and unlawful sexual connection in 1993.
Although the girl's mother had knowledge of Neumann's past, when her daughter alleged he was abusing her it was met with rejection and a slap in the face, Judge Phillips said. Neumann was allowed to continue visiting her. The girl was removed from the house and put into Child Youth and Family care in 1997 and it was only as a grown woman she could face going to police, he said. In her reparation report, the victim said she would accept payment from Neumann but "it could never make up for what had been done", Judge Phillips said.
She felt she was serving her own life sentence, he said. During the sentencing, the question of Neumann's cognitive ability also arose. There had been several conflicting reports done on Neumann's cognition, with some suggesting he had an intellectual disability and others not. The final report done by a clinical psychologist said Neumann had an average understanding of social rules, he said. There was nothing to say Neumann did not have the cognitive ability to understand the seriousness of the offending, Judge Phillips said of the report.
But the judge did acknowledge Neumann, who was epileptic and had a difficult upbringing, with limited education and personal hardships, was disadvantaged. However, Neumann's offending was considered by the judge as premeditated because he kept going back and his victim was in a highly vulnerable position. Neumann was sentenced to seven years'and nine months' jail and ordered to pay $6000 emotional harm reparation. He also has a non-parole period of four and a half years.