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Offender Databases Gordon Townsend

Gordon Lesley Townsend

Alias

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Offences

Two unlawful sexual connection and two indecent assault convictions on two Masterton girls aged 7 and 8 in 2010, also a drink driving conviction
Previous sexual offending convictions and two assault convictions in 1998

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1961

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 4 years 9 months in January 2011

Background
From The Evening Post (Wellington), May 22, 1998, Friday

A man found guilty of using two angry dogs as weapons against police was jailed for eight months by a Wellington District Court judge yesterday, but will be released because of the time he has already spent in custody.

Electrical assistant Gordon Lesley Townsend, 36, of Upper Hutt, was found guilty on two charges of assault with a weapon. He also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis oil. Judge Christopher Tuohy said police had been called to Townsend's home in January, during a dispute with his wife.

Townsend held the police off with the two dogs on chains, then released them and threw them at two police officers, Judge Tuohy said. He said both dogs were shot and wounded but survived. "There was potential for serious injury," he said. "Your actions led to firearms being used in a residential area."

Judge Tuohy said Townsend had spent more than four months in custody awaiting trial, and this effectively worked out the same as serving his sentence. This meant Townsend would be released immediately. A capsule of cannabis oil had been found in Townsend's pocket when he was searched at the police station. Judge Tuohy convicted and discharged him on that.

Judge Tuohy said the Crown was applying for an order for the dogs' destruction but he was not going to decide that until further charges under the Dog Control Act had been resolved, in about a week. Defence counsel John Gwilliam said Townsend had been frustrated and angry at having to leave his own home when he threw the dogs.

He said the dogs were family pets and had never been the subject of complaints.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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