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

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Lewis Benton

Lewis Owen Benton

Alias

.

Offences

Doing an indecent act with a girl aged under twelve (x3) and unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged under twelve. All charges representative
All offences occurred during the 1980's and 1990's

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1934

Current Location

Unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 3 years 6 months in November 2008

Background
From Taranaki Daily News story 8th Nov 2008
Retired New Plymouth man Lewis Owen Benton has been jailed for three and-a-half years for historical sex crimes. Despite pleading guilty on the first day of his trial in September, Benton continually shook his head in defiance when Judge Allan Roberts outlined his charges in the New Plymouth District Court yesterday. In all, Benton, 75, had admitted three charges of doing an indecent act with a girl aged under 12 and a single charge of unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged under 12.

The court was silent for several minutes as the victim's mother read a statement outlining the damage Benton had done through his crimes in the 1980s and 1990s. The woman said Benton had left a trail of total devastation and loss through his offending. While the rest of the court looked stone-faced, Benton sat in the dock, shaking his head and staring defiantly out the window.

Defence counsel Andrew Laurenson offered several mitigating factors on Benton's behalf, including his guilty plea that spared the victim from having to give evidence at trial. Judge Roberts was condemning in his address to Benton, describing him as someone who showed little insight into his offending or the effect on the victim. "You stole her innocence at a time she was entitled to embark on her childhood," he said.

From Taranaki Daily News story 26th Sep 2008
RETIRED New Plymouth man Lewis Owen Benton changed his plea on the second day of his trial on a number of sex charges yesterday. Benton, 74, pleaded guilty to charges of doing an indecent act against a girl aged under 12, performing an indecency against a girl and sexual violation when he appeared in the New Plymouth District Court. He was remanded in custody by Judge Allan Roberts to appear for sentence on November 7.

---

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