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Offender Databases Stephen Ireland

Stephen John Ireland

Alias

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Offences

Rape (x8), indecent assault (x10), sexual violation (x13) of a girl under 16 in Taranaki between 1997 and 2000

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1957

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 16 years with a 10 year minimum non-parole period in December 2006
Unsuccessfully appealed the sentence in March 2009

Background
From the Daily News 1st December 2006
Stephen John Ireland's glazed eyes stared at the ground as a New Plymouth jury delivered guilty verdicts on 23 sex charges. Evidence shown to the court this week included a harrowing videotape showing Ireland raping his victim when she was aged between 12 and 15. The Inglewood petrol pump attendant (49) admitted to eight further sex charges at the beginning of his trial on Monday. The offences - eight of rape, 10 of indecent assault and 13 of sexual violation - were committed between 1997 and 2000. The jury took about four hours to reach their verdicts. Upon the announcement and after consultation with the victim, interim suppression of Ireland's name was lifted. At one point Ireland wiped his eyes as the verdicts were read out.

The victim had told the court that Ireland would touch her and rape her between two and four times a week. Ireland videotaped many of the offences and a 90-minute tape was later found by his new partner when she was looking through boxes in his garage. On the second day of the trial, that video was played to the jury - one juror weeping and many others having to shield their eyes. This was the first time a district court in Taranaki had seen such evidence. After the verdicts were delivered, Judge Bidois thanked the jury, saying the case had been very demanding. "It's not very often we get to see videos of that sort of conduct which is, by anyone's standards, bad," he said. The four men and eight women were excused from jury service for two years. The victim had told the court how Ireland made her play games with him.

These involved him acting the part of principal and her the student. He would tell her she had been naughty and would smack her. Another game involved her modelling for him. Ireland's defence lawyer Lance Rowe told the jury that the victim knew she was being videoed. Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich said Ireland had offered the victim $50 or a cigarette at different times if they could "pick up where we left off". The victim, who gave a brief smile during the delivering of the verdict, had described Ireland as frightening. "I felt disgusting, I felt hurt, I felt betrayed from what he could do," she said when asked how his offending made her feel. She also described how she became anorexic, skipped school and cut her wrists and stomach in attempts to deal with her pain. Ireland will be sentenced December 21 in the New Plymouth District Court. He will remain in custody until then.

The impact the abuse has had on the victim is deeply saddening. We are advised the victim has since behaved poorly at school, was drinking alcohol and has been disruptive and violent towards other children, has committed self-harm by cutting herself with sharp objects and she became anorexic as a consequence of this sick perverted mongrel abusing her.

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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

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