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

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Peter Hamilton

Peter Albert Hamilton

Alias

.

Offences

Abducted and raped his ex-partner in Gore in February 2005

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1966

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 years with a 4 year 6 month non-parole period in March 2006

Background
From a Southland Times story
THE man found guilty last month of raping his ex-partner during a three-hour abduction had continued to show no sign of regret, an Invercargill District Court judge said during sentencing yesterday. Peter Albert Hamilton, a 40-year-old self-employed resident of Gore, was found guilty by a jury of two rapes and an abduction after a four-day trial in mid-February.

The abduction and rape took place at the man's home in February last year. Yesterday, Hamilton was sentenced to nine years' jail by Judge Brian Callaghan. Hamilton appeared calm throughout the sentencing but afterwards covered his face while getting into the prison van. Judge Callaghan said Hamilton had shown continual denial of involvement in his offending.

"(There has been) no suggestion of regret on your part, which would normally be a mitigating factor." Hamilton's pre-sentence report painted a picture "not all that uncommon to judges sentencing people in his position". Hamilton had had a "harsh and strict upbringing" to the extent it would be "considered abusive in this day and age" , Judge Callaghan said. Indications of a limited intellect and understanding were perhaps why Hamilton didn't read situations very well and had poor relationship outcomes.

"There does seem to be ... by the nature of (previous) offences, that you do have a relatively poor attitude to partners in relationships or people you are close to, given the nature of the charges." Judge Callaghan said the victim had been a "very brave woman" who, despite going through the three-hour ordeal, held herself so well at trial he was "not surprised the jury believed her" . She had been held captive by Hamilton.

Though there had been no violence other than the rapes, the emotional injury of the incident would probably haunt her for the rest of her life, he said. Defence counsel David Slater submitted the offence was not pre- meditated and the judge could step back from Crown prosecutor Miriam Sinclair's request for a 10-year jail term with a minimum non- parole period of two thirds of the sentence.

Judge Callaghan: "While you may not be a risk to the public in general, the normal release after one third (of the sentence) would plainly be insufficient ... given the aggravating circumstances." Hamilton would serve a minimum period of four years and six months before being eligible for parole, the judge said.

---

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