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Desmond Cox
.
Sexual violation by digital penetration of an 18 year old Christchurch woman in March 2004
Home invasion, sexual violation and assault of a woman and threatening to violate her 11 year old daughter in Australia in 1990
Also an indecent assault conviction in 1982
.
.
none known
Born 1963
Prison
Sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum period of 5 years in July 2004
Due to be considered for release March 2011
Background
From the Press (Christchurch) Jul 15, 2006
Sex offender Desmond William Cox, 41, waited six years to strike again.
With a steady job in Christchurch and apparently keeping out of trouble for six years since being released from jail, he struck again in March, attacking a young woman near the University of Canterbury.
The 18-year-old victim was walking along Ilam Road about 3.15am and stopped to relieve herself near the university.
Cox punched her to the ground and got on top of her, preventing her screaming by putting her hand over her mouth. He penetrated her with his finger. Two passers-by disturbed Cox and he ran off.
He initially denied the offending. In 1990, while living in Australia, he entered a woman's house while masked and subjected the victim to an attack in which he knocked out three teeth and made her perform oral indecencies. He violated the woman and threatened to violate her 11-year-old daughter. He was jailed for 16 years for the offence and served seven years, being deported back to New Zealand in 1998. In 1982 Cox was convicted of indecent assault. Yesterday Justice Chisholm in the High Court in Christchurch sentenced Cox, who admitted a charge of sexual violation by digital penetration, to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole term of five years.
"I'm afraid in the end I've got a plain duty to protect the community. The risk to the community is simply too high," the judge said. The judge said the latest offence again involved violence. "By any measure this was an appalling and shameful incident," the judge said. The 1990 incident and the one this year involved sexual violation and violence. "In both cases it seems but for fortuitous intervention by others, the outcome might have been much worse." Psychiatric reports showed a lack of insight and victim empathy and spoke of a high risk of reoffending, and an inability to apply previous treatments.
"All in all, Mr Cox, I can only infer a very high risk of reoffending on your part," the judge said. Lawyer Stephen Hembrow said Cox suffered sexual and physical abuse as a child which he had not come to grips with. The offence was not premeditated. He had the support of his wife and was willing to undertake further programmes and treatment. Prosecutor Andrew McRae sought a sentence of preventive detention, saying the latest victim was a vulnerable and intoxicated woman who had been significantly affected. The judge said that, despite having had an appalling upbringing, Cox had managed to hold down a job and was highly regarded by his employer. However, rehabilitative treatments and a long jail sentence had not worked.
