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Offender Databases William Devereux

William Joseph Devereux

Alias

.

Offences

Assault with intent to commit sexual violation of an Invercargill woman in March 2003
Arson of his neighbour's property in Invercargill in March 2008

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1944

Current Location

At large

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 18 months with automatic release after 9 months in July 2004
Sentenced to 12 months with automatic release after 6 months in August 2008

Background
From the Southland Times July 3rd 2004
A 60-year-old Invercargill man was found guilty by Judge David Saunders in the Invercargill District Court yesterday of assault with intent to commit sexual violation. William Joseph Devereux had denied the charge, relating to an incident on March 23 last year. Judge Saunders said Devereux maintained the events had not happened but another witness had given evidence that when he arrived at the victim's house Devereux was "manhandling" the victim.

"I am satisfied that this was not taking place in any consensual sense." Judge Saunders said the defence was at a disadvantage because the victim had died since the assault. However, he found the charge had been proven beyond reasonable doubt. Judge Saunders remanded Devereux on bail to July 15 for sentence.

From the Southland Times March 3rd 2005
AN INVERCARGILL man sent to jail last year for assaulting a woman with intent to commit sexual violation had his appeals against his conviction and sentence dismissed this week. Justice Robertson dismissed the appeals by William Joseph Devereux in a written decision delivered on Tuesday. Devereux, 60, was sentenced in July last year to 18 months' jail, without leave to apply for home detention, when Judge David Saunders found him guilty following a trial.

Devereux was charged after a woman he had been drinking with on March 25, 2003, complained to police that he had assaulted her with intent to commit sexual violation. The woman gave police a written statement but died before the matter reached trial. However, her statement was read as evidence during the trial. Justice Robertson's written decision says Devereux, who filed the appeal himself, alleged his trial counsel (David Slater) was incompetent.

Devereux's complaints included that his counsel failed to challenge the judge's decision to allow the woman's statement to be read at trial and did not object to the calling of a Crown witness after the Crown case had closed and Devereux had given evidence. The decision says there was no substance to any of the points raised in the appeal. The case was heard before a judge alone, it says. "Although that does not mean that there is a general licence to ignore proper procedural and evidential requirements, the concerns about a jury being improperly influenced by prejudicial material or hearing inadmissible testimony does not arise in the same way."

From the Southland Times August 15th 2008
AN INVERCARGILL man who set fire to his neighbour's grass and scorched his house was sentenced to 12 months' jail when he appeared in the Invercargill District Court yesterday. Joseph William Devereux, 64, appeared for sentence before Judge Gary Macaskill after admitting the arson at an earlier appearance. Judge Macaskill said the charge was laid after an incident beside Devereux's Tweed St home on March 15.

Heavily intoxicated, Devereux had approached his neighbour, who had been digging in posts in his yard, to ask if he could have his mailbox, the court was told. An altercation between the men took place after the neighbour said no, he said. As a result of that altercation, Devereux had later set his neighbour's grass on fire, Judge Macaskill said. "You must be held accountable for placing this house and any people in it, at risk," the judge said. Jail was the only option available, he said.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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