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Offender Database Aaron Henderson

Aaron Joseph Henderson

Alias

.

Offences

Beat a pregnant Timaru woman in July 1989 so severely she miscarried

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1971

Current Location

At large in Palmerston, Otago

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to seven years in December 1989

Background
From NZ Herald story December 1989 condensed here
Aaron Joseph Henderson, aged 18, was jailed for seven years for killing an unborn child when he appeared in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday. Henderson - a labourer of Timaru, described as a rigid paranoid, unable to control his aggression and psychopathic - stared blankly after Mr Justice Roper imposed sentence.

Justice Roper had told him he had a good deal of sympathy towards him but the consequences of his actions were disastrous - a healthy baby was dead and the effect on the 19-year-old mother had been traumatic. At his trial in Timaru, Henderson was found guilty of causing the death of an unborn child at Timaru on July 25 in such a manner that he would have been guilty of murder if the child had become a human being.

The jury heard evidence that the unborn child died as a result of a beating Henderson gave the woman both inside and outside a Timaru house. She was kicked, punched and body slammed and her head was smashed into concrete. At the time she was 26 weeks pregnant. Medical evidence was given that the child died in-utero a few days before delivery. There was bleeding in the digestive system and liver and haemorrhages of the brain surface.

A psychiatrist had asked him whether he thought it fair that a man, much stronger, should beat up a woman.
Henderson's response : "Why not?"

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Corrections and Additional Information
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