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Offender Databases Rongo Kaiwahia

Rongo John Kaiwahia

Alias

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Offences

Rape and indecent assault of two Wellington girls aged eight and nine for three years from 2000 to 2003

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1934

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 13 years with a 6 year minimum non-parole period in July 2003
Has since attempted to appeal this sentence

Background
From the Dominion Post 3rd July 2003
THE husband of a woman who was feared embalmed alive has been jailed for 13 years for raping two young girls. A coroner found Hine Hou "Susie" Kaiwahia, 61, was brain dead when she was embalmed in 1998. In Wellington District Court yesterday, Rongo John Kaiwahia, 69, was ordered to serve at least six years of a 13-year jail sentence on two charges of rape. He was sentenced to concurrent jail terms of four years on seven charges of indecent assault. A jury found Kaiwahia guilty. He continued to deny the offending.

The circumstances of Mrs Kaiwahia's embalming were not referred to in court but defence lawyer Val Nisbet said that since her death, Kaiwahia had difficulty coping in a normal environment. Judge Anne Gaskell asked the police officer in charge of the case to tell the girls, now aged 11 and 12, that they were not to blame for what happened over about three years. One girl was eight when the offending began. Judge Gaskell said Kaiwahia had raped one of the girls twice and the other repeatedly, despite both girls' protests. One of the girls had an infection usually found in women who were sexually active.

Kaiwahia's counsel Dale La Hood, who represented him at the Court of Appeal, said given the length of the sentence Kaiwahia will probably die in custody.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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