escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Bennie Cannon

Bennie Lee Cannon

Alias

.

Offences

Rape, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and committing indecent acts on four young girls as young as seven between 1991 and 2005

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1946

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 years 6 months in September 2006
Concurrent terms of 8 years and 5 years were imposed

Background
From the Dominion Post 15/09/2006
A sexual predator who robbed children of their innocence over a long period of time was jailed today for nine and a half years. Bennie Lee Cannon, a 60-year-old storeman from Featherston, in the Wairarapa, was sentenced in Wellington District Court on 14 charges of sexual assault relating to four young girls between 1991 and 2005. The charges included one of rape, five of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and eight of doing indecent acts. The girls involved were as young as seven-years-old. The court was told the offending which took place at Cannon's home and workplace escalated over time from indecent touching to digital penetration, simulated sex and rape and Judge Ian Mill said the serious offences were committed against particularly vulnerable members of our society, who were "society's greatest asset".

He said Cannon robbed them of their innocence. "You preyed on innocent children over a long period of time." The children were hurt, confused, afraid and emotionally devastated by what he did to them. They knew the offending would happen again but felt powerless to prevent it. Their families also suffered from guilt and felt betrayed and preyed upon. Judge Mill said Cannon seemed sorry for himself but not sorry for what he had done. "I can see no obvious true remorse on your part for what you've done to these girls." Cannon was an ongoing risk to the community, he said. It concerned him greatly that Cannon was convicted in 1997 of indecency on a girl aged under 12, but it was now clear that at the time he had already committed other offences and continued to offend unabated for another 7 or 8 years.

Other aggravating features were the number of victims involved, the number of offences, the period of time, premeditation and that Cannon used violence and force on the girls. There was also a serious breach of trust of children who were entitled to rely on him for protection. Cannon had pleaded guilty to all charges. His lawyer Christopher Stevenson said he was a "broken man" who at age 60 "has little left to look forward to". He had transferred all his possessions to his wife, and planned to return to the United States - his country of birth - when he finished his jail term. Judge Mill sentenced him to nine and a half years for the rape, eight years for each of the charges of unlawful sexual connection and five years for each indecent assault - to be served concurrently.

---

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

Back to Top