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Offender Databases Bernard Burke

Bernard Thomas Burke

Alias

Bernie Burke

Offences

Sexual indecencies on a 15 year old Christchurch boy in 1997-98

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1963

Current Location

At large in Christchurch City, also Akaroa and Hamner

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to three years in December 1998
Released August 2001

Background
Burke worked as a magician at children's parties and ran a bouncy-castle operation in Christchurch. He pleaded guilty to four charges of indecency, and was found guilty by a District Court jury of nine others. The victim was a 15 year old boy who had approached him looking for work. The court was told he had used money as a reward for sexual favours and there was the use of alcohol in the initial offence. The victim was severely affected to the point of twice attemting suicide. The judge said Burke had exploited the boy's need for money to the point of "enticing him to make a career out of prostituting himself".

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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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