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Offender Databases Adolphus Lyford

Adolphus William Lyford

Alias

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Offences

Rape (x4) and indecent assault (x8) of a Nelson girl from the age of eight to 14 and inducing her to do an indecent act in the late 70's and early 80's

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1933

Current Location

At large in Nelson

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 6 years 6 months in September 2007
Paroled February 2010

Background
From the Nelson Mail 20th September 2007
The victim in a historical sex abuse case has told a court that she used to dream of shooting her abuser in his sleep.

Tahunanui man Adolphus William Lyford, 74, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison when he appeared in the Nelson District Court yesterday. Lyford had previously admitted four charges of raping the girl in the 1970s and 1980s, eight of indecently assaulting her, and one of inducing her to do an indecent act. The victim, who was aged between eight and 14 when the offending occurred, told the court that it had had a major impact on her life.

She said that as a child, she sometimes dreamed of getting a shotgun and shooting Lyford in his sleep, but was afraid that she would be sent to jail. She said that since the abuse, she had suffered depression, had difficulty maintaining close relationships, and had to recite positive affirmations everyday to remind herself that she was a worthy person. "All I really wanted was to be held and told everything was okay."

The woman said she even resorted to working in a massage parlour for a short time, before her boyfriend at the time persuaded her to stop. Defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Lyford was struggling to come to terms with the enormity of what he had done, and comments that he was not remorseful were incorrect. He said Lyford's current partner and son believed that a prison sentence would effectively be a death sentence because of his age and health. Lyford was able to pay $20,000 reparation to the victim, he said.

Judge Tony Zohrab said Lyford's offending "struck at the heart" of society's values and had robbed the victim of the innocence of her childhood. Judge Zohrab said he gave Lyford credit for his offer of reparation, but $20,000 was a "drop in the bucket". "You set her up for a lifetime of sorrow and misery and constant reflection." Judge Zohrab said there was no basis for Lyford's name to be suppressed - a position supported by the victim. "The community is entitled to know what you have done."

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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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