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Offender Databases Mitchell Karaitiana

Mitchell Gare Karaitiana

Alias

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Offences

Three charges of rape of a seven year old Dunedin girl between October 2001 and May 2002

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1986

Current Location

At large in Clinton, Southland

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 3 years in April 2006
Released early 2009

Background
From Otago Daily Times 28th April 2006
The effects of sexual offending by 20 year old Katangata man Mitchell Gare Karaitiana on a 7 year old girl would possibly remain with her for the rest of her life, Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said in the Dundedin Distric Court yesterday. Karaitiana was 16 when he raped the little girl on three occasions four years ago.

He admitted a representative rape charge for the offending between October 1st, 2001 and May 30th, 2002 and was yesterday sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. The judge refused an application by counsel Helgi Henderson for final name suppression for Karaitiana. However he suppressed the victim's name and any details which could lead to her identification.

The judge urged Karaitiana "in the strongest possible terms" to make productive use of his time in prison and to do whatever courses were available to ensure he did not repeat his offending. Otherwise there would be another victim of sexual abuse and the defendant would run the risk of going to prison for a very long time, Judge O'Driscoll said.

Mr Henderson said Karaitiana understood the worth of doing rehabilitative programmes while in custody and intended making the most of the opportunities given to him while serving his sentence. Crown counsel Marie Grills said the victim, who was now 11, "strongly supported" publication of the defendant's name. The fact the offending occurred on three occasions over three months was an aggravating factor, Mrs Grills said, as was the difference in age between the defendant and the girl.

Judge O'Driscoll said it was clear, from the girl's victim impact statement, that she was someone who was mature and strong to be able to disclose the abuse and list the effects it had on her. "She said she feels sad, hurt and angry and in a position where she can never trust you again," the judge told Karaitiana.

The two powerful mitigating factors he took into account when deciding on the length of the sentence were the defendants age at the time of the offending and his guilty plea when the matters were disclosed, thus avoiding the need for the victim to be involved in giving evidence.

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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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