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Offender Databases Michael Fissenden

Michael James Cameron Fissenden

Alias

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Offences

Raped and indecently assaulted a sex worker in July 1982
A second rape of another woman in October 1982

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1951

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 7 years with a concurrent 3 year term in August 1995
Reduced to 5 years on appeal

Background
EVENING POST, February 22nd 1996
A man twice convicted of rape has had his jail sentence for the first offence reduced by two years. In the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday Michael James Cameron Fissenden, 45, appealed a seven-year sentence imposed last year for raping a prostitute in 1982. The woman didn't complain until 1993 because she did not think she would be believed. Her complaint to police followed another part-time prostitute saying Fissenden raped her.

A few months after the first offence, Fissenden raped an acquaintance after a wedding party. The woman complained to police but Fissenden said she consented to having sex. He was not charged but the following year the woman's husband seriously stabbed Fissenden. Two years later Fissenden went to police and confessed to raping her. He was charged, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to four years jail. In 1993 Fissenden was arrested for raping the part-time prostitute. He was acquitted of that charge in 1994.

In the meantime, the victim of the first rape had complained to police. He was convicted of that charge last July and sentenced to seven years jail. He appealed the sentence on the grounds an effective 11-year sentence for the two rapes was too high for offences committed close together at a time when sentences for rape were lower than present. The Crown agreed seven years would have been appropriate for the two had they been sentenced together.

Delivering the judgment of himself, Justice McKay and Justice Thorp, Sir Thomas Eichelbaum said a psychiatric report indicated Fissenden was likely to reoffend and projected blame on the victims. The sort of sentence appropriate in 1982 seemed quite inadequate by today's standards, the judge said. There was a remaining issue of what extra was needed to protect the public. The seven-year jail term was quashed and five years imposed instead. The recommendation for Fissenden to attend a sexual offender's programme remained.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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