escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Databases Benjamin Peita

Benjamin Miles Kohu Peita

Alias

.

Offences

Indecent assault of a 60 year old Hawera woman in October 2009
A history of violence including an indecent assault in 1999

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1978

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to eight months in December 2008

Background
From Taranaki Daily News story Dec 12th 2009
An elderly victim of an indecent assault will no longer walk through parks alone, the Hawera District Court heard yesterday.

Unemployed 31-year-old Benjamin Miles Kohu Peita was sentenced to eight months' jail for the October 28 attack. The 60-year-old victim had been walking through Hawera's King Edward Park when she passed Peita and said hello. A short time later she walked back the other way and noticed the defendant following her.

Peita covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed her by the waist. He pushed her into a flower bed and fell on top of her, all the while keeping one hand over her mouth to silence her screams. She struggled and managed to get free before Peita again caught her and said "I don't mean it. I'll let you go if you don't tell".

Peita had earlier admitted the charge, as well as taking black lace underwear from a clothesline on September 21. The owner of the washing saw Peita and banged on her kitchen window, causing him to drop the washing and run away.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Britton said the victim was vulnerable and there had been actual violence in the incident. Peita had a history of violence including an indecent assault in 1999, he said, and asked for a short term of imprisonment. Defence lawyer Kelly Marriner conceded jail was the only option, but said the indecency of the assault was inferred. Peita was receiving mental health assistance, she said. Judge Allan Roberts said the opportunistic nature of the crime was cause for concern.

The fact Peita did not consider himself to be a sexual offender was probably an indictment of his intellectual ability, the judge said. "You stalked a solitary woman and took her to the ground," he said. "I would have jailed you for the assault alone. The attack on her was cowardly."

---

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

Back to Top