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Offender Databases Jacob Peta

Jacob Rangaiti Peta

Alias

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Offences

Home invasion and assault of a Palmerston North couple while on bail in 2005
Inducing a girl under 12 to perform an indecent act on him (x2) in Palmerston North in April 2002, possession of a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle, interfering with a motor vehicle, assault (x2) and a charge of escaping police custody
Has extensive criminal convictions, beginning in 1999 with an aggravated robbery at age 14, including theft, assault, possession of a pistol, unlawful interference with a motor vehicle, escape from custody and possession of cannabis.

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1984

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to two years in May 2003 for the sexual and other offences
Sentenced to 5 years 6 months in January 2009 for the home invasion etc

Background
Manawatu Standard story here
From Manawatu Standard article 24th May 2003
A 19-year-old Palmerston North man whose counsel, Duncan Harvey, described as having 'fallen through the cracks' was yesterday sentenced to two years in prison. Jacob Rangaiti Peta appeared before Judge Phillip Connell in the Palmerston North District Court for sentencing on two charges of inducing a girl under 12 to perform an indecent act on him, possession of a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle, interfering with a motor vehicle, two charges of assault and one charge of escaping police custody.

The indecency charges arose from an April 2002 incident in which Peta and a friend went to a woman's house claiming Peta was suffering an asthma attack. While the woman left the house with his friend, Peta went into the bedroom of two girls, both younger than 12 at the time. He then asked them to perform an indecent act on him. He was sentenced to nine months in prison on those charges.

Peta received a cumulative sentence of 10 months for possession of a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle discovered when a car in which he was a passenger was stopped by police. Further cumulative sentences of two months and three months respectively were imposed for two assault charges stemming from an incident in The Square in the early hours of March 2. Peta received a concurrent term of two months in prison for escaping custody after he ran from the dock at Palmerston North District Court last month.

From Manawatu Standard article 28th February 2007 A man whom the Court of Appeal described as "not what is colloquially known as a decent law abiding citizen" has succeeded in having an extended supervision order quashed. The 10-year order was placed on Jacob Rangaiti Peta by a district court judge in January last year when he was convicted on two counts of committing an indecent act with a girl under 12.

Peta had extensive criminal convictions, beginning in 1999 with an aggravated robbery at age 14. He had since racked up a variety of convictions for offences including theft, assault, possession of a pistol, unlawful interference with a motor vehicle, escape from custody and possession of cannabis.

The Court of Appeal, in its judgment isssued today, said the sex offences happened when Peta was left in the company of a friend's children for about 10 minutes. He was very much under the influence drugs and alcohol when he went into the room where the first victim was sleeping. He exposed his penis and told the girl to kiss it. She pretended to be asleep, so he went into another girl's bedroom.

There he kissed the child's cheek, and indecently exposed himself again. When the child began to cry Peta left the room. Peta told the children not to tell their mother, and, according to one of the girls in her evidential statement, threatened to kill them. In his written statement, Peta admitted being at the house, but he claimed not to have done anything at all. However, he pleaded guilty to the offences and was sentenced to nine months imprisonment.

The district court judge imposed the extended supervision order (ESO) after considering a report by a senior psychologist from the Department of Corrections.

The ESO regime is designed to protect the public from those who pose a real and onging risk of committing sexual offences against children and young persons. Before imposing an ESO the court had to be satisfied, after considering a health assessor's report, that the offender was likely to commit any of the relevant offences in the future.

Peta appealed against the ESO and the Court of Appeal started its hearing on July 18. On July 31 the Court of Appeal said it considered the reasons given by the district court judge for the imposition of the an ESO were so inadequate that the matter had to be reconsidered afresh.

Further evidence, which included the results of more tests and assessments of Peta, and updated submissions were heard from the Crown and Peta's lawyer on November 30. The Court of Appeal said that it had no doubt that Peta posed a major risk of non-sexual re-offending unless he dealt with his substance abuse problem and avoided anti-social associates.

But it was not satisfied that Peta's risk of sexual recidivism against children was such to justify the imposition of an ESO. "We are most influenced in our risk assessment by the fact that the sexual offending was not of the most serious character, it was not pursued in the face of resistance, and it appears to have been out of character," the judgment said.

Peta showed no sign of a deviant sexual interest in children, and had a strong supportive relationship with his partner and family. "We are not satisfied that the risk of relevant reoffending by Mr Peta is both real, ongoing and one that cannot be sensibly ignored having regard the nature and gravity of the likely re-offending,"' the Court of Appeal said. The appeal was allowed and the ESO quashed.

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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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