Offender DatabasesViolent and Sexual Offender
Databases |
Victims MemorialA memorial to those murdered in NZ in the last twenty years
Arabic language summary | 
Chinese language summary | 
Korean
language summary 0900 SAFE NZ (7233 69)
EDUCATE . ADVOCATE . SUPPORT
| SITEMAP(3)Where to find everything here | FAQFrequently Asked Questions | New!New on this site lately |
escalating violence in our community
Become a member of the
Sensible Sentencing Trust
Offender Databases
Ashley Fulton
.
Rape, unlawful sexual connection and threatening to kill an 82 year old woman, aggravated assault on her 63 year old son, in November 1995
Also raped a 51 year old woman in 1982
.
.
none known
Born 1958
Prison
Sentenced to preventive detention in July 1996
Unsuccessfully appealed the conviction in May 1998
Eligible for parole December 2005
Background
From a Christchurch Press story 19th July 1996
Sickness beneficiary Ashley Noel Fulton was yesterday sentenced to preventive detention for the rape of an elderly Christchurch woman. Imposing sentence in the High Court in Christchurch, Justice Hansen said: "I am satisfied that it is expedient, indeed essential, for the protection of the public that you be detained for a substantial period''. Fulton, 38, was convicted by a jury earlier this month of charges of rape, unlawful sexual connection, threatening to kill, aggravated assault, and burglary. The charges arose from an attack on the woman, 82, and her son, 63, in their Christchurch flat in the early morning of November 29 last year. Justice Hansen said the attack was "offending of the most despicable and distasteful kind''.
The court heard that Fulton had entered the woman's flat at about 3am, committed gross indecencies against her, and then raped her. He repeatedly threatened to kill her. The attack was stopped by the woman's son, who disturbed Fulton. The defendant knocked the son to the ground before running off. In a victim impact report submitted to the court, the complainant said: "When he raped me I felt as if I lost my virginity all over again. It was a dirty feeling. He (Fulton) has ruined the remaining years of an old lady's life.'' Justice Hansen said the woman had since suffered depression and had received psychiatric treatment. She no longer went shopping or to housie because she did not want to face people. Fulton continued to deny his guilt, failed to accept the seriousness of his offending, and showed no remorse at all. There was nothing before the court to suggest Fulton had done anything to address the "impulses" that prompted his offending.
"Your refusal to accept responsibility for your sexual offending means there is little likelihood of you seeking worthwhile treatment in future. "The enormity of this offending is very gross indeed. The plight of your victims is quite clear from the victim-impact report. Its contents make disturbing reading.'' The court heard that in 1982 Fulton was convicted of the rape of a 51-year-old woman and, in a statement from the dock, admitted responsibility for two charges of raping an elderly woman, charges he had been tried and acquitted of in 1980. He also admitted other offences including the rape of another elderly woman. He withdrew all those admissions during a later bail hearing. Justice Hansen said the court was entitled to take these comments into account in deciding sentence as they had been volunteered by the defendant and he had not withdrawn them during an appeal against sentence. Jonathan Eaton for the Crown said Fulton was acting on impulses over which he had little or no control and was too "terrified'' to acknowledge his offending.
From a Sunday Star Times article 10th May 1998
SERIAL rapist Ashley Noel Fulton has failed to have a conviction overturned after claiming police switched fingerprints to make his arrest. The Court of Appeal has not upheld his appeal, saying it was obvious Fulton was the person who had raped an 83-year-old woman in her Christchurch flat. For the safety of the community his sentence of preventative detention must stand, it said. Fulton claimed police had erred in the way they had lifted a partial print from a door handle at the woman's flat, so after he had been arrested and fingerprinted, switched one of those prints for the one on the door handle.
Fulton (40) was found guilty in the High Court at Christchurch in July 1996 for the rape of the woman the previous November. In 1981, he was sentenced to seven years jail for the rape of a 51-year-old woman in Invercargill. Two years earlier he had been found not guilty in Invercargill of the rape of a 75-year-old woman on two occasions. But in a bizarre twist during his sentencing for the attack on the 51-year-old, Fulton asked to address the court. He told the judge he was responsible for the rapes on the 75-year-old and had also committed "others". Court of Appeal judge Justice Andrew Tipping said while the record-keeping of the officers who had lifted and later filed the fingerprint from the woman's flat had been "less than perfect" there was no suggestion there had been a fabrication of evidence.
Fulton also contended that he did not get a fair trial. He believes the crown prosecutor wrongly cross-examined him by attempting to destroy his credibility by questioning him about his failure to provide an explanation about why his fingerprint was on the door. Justice Tipping said there was some substance to the contention, and it was compounded by the fact the trial judge did not intervene, or correct the matter, or make any reference to it during his summing up. Justice Tipping said the Crown had accepted these misgivings and ordinarily a new trial would have to be ordered. However, he said the jury would have come to the same verdict regardless. He added the sentence of preventative detention was the right one in view of Fulton's previous offending.
