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Offender Databases James Williams

James Leonard Williams

Alias

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Offences

Rape and blackmail (x2) of a woman and threatening to kill her in the Waikato area between December 2010 and January 2011

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1978

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 years 6 months in March 2012

Background
TV3 News story here
Fairfax Media article 8th December 2011
James Leonard Williams, 33, is in custody, awaiting sentencing after a Hamilton High Court jury yesterday found him guilty of two counts of blackmail, one of rape and one of threatening to kill. The verdict came after a two-day trial. Williams sent hundreds of text messages to the victim through December last year in an attempt to get what he said he was "owed". He said he required two or three "sex sessions" before deleting the phone numbers of the woman's family and her employer, otherwise he said he would send them intimate pictures of her.

Dr Kim McGregor, executive director of Rape Prevention Education Whakatu Mauri told the Waikato Times such cases are growing in conjunction with the use of technology and social networking. "We have seen similar examples of threats being used to manipulate women by the use of photographs and we have seen the use of text (messaging) sexual harassment, sexual bullying and manipulations," she said. "The underlying issue, remains the same, what is different is the expanded use of technology to conduct the same types of threats, manipulation and coercive power that is already practised," she said.

She said women should not be forced into changing their behaviour, and can help themselves by doing things such as refusing to pose for intimate photographs. "It is the same principal as understanding that a woman who wears a short skirt was not asking to be raped. "We have to be shifting the responsibility from the shoulders of young women and on to the men who perpetrate violence against them," Dr McGregor said. The jury was provided with a booklet containing the 1600 text messages containing explicit details of what he expected from the vitim.

"You better let me have my way good and proper," one of the tamer ones said. Crown prosecutor Rebecca Guthrie said the pressure on the complainant became too great and on Christmas Day last year she finally gave in to his demands. "Despite making her feelings very clear, in an effort to try and stop him, she ended up having sex with the accused," she said. "When she did have sex with him, it was because it was the only option she could see to placate him." The texts continued into the new year.

Then, on January 6 the woman started getting similar messages urging her to see Williams, from someone calling himself "Jamie", on a different number. The Crown said the messages were clearly from the accused – resulting in the second charge of blackmail – and Ms Guthrie said it was "farcical" to suggest anyone else had any interest in the pair's affairs. The jury agreed. Williams was also found guilty of threatening to kill, after the victim received a death threat, as well as threats of rape, violence and car bombing, from the unknown number.

Defence counsel Russell Boot said the phone did not belong to his client and phone records showed he received messages from that number. It was unlikely it was Williams who sent any threats, he said. Though he conceded some of the text messages were "unpleasant" and "misguided" he said Williams did not have sex with the victim without her consent. But the jury were not persuaded and also found him guilty of rape. Ms Guthrie said the messages provided a snapshot of "someone bent on getting their own way, no matter what the complainant said or did". She described his actions as "cold, calculated and deliberate". Williams will remain in custody until March when he will be sentenced.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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