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Offender Databases David Sharland

David Joseph Sharland

Alias

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Offences

Sexual violation by oral connection, indecent assault on a young boy and inducing a boy aged 12-16 to perform an indecent act on him in Palmerston North in May 1998

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

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Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1976

Current Location

Unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 3 years 6 months in February 1999

Background
From the Evening Standard 4th February 1999
Homosexual acts involving a schoolboy in Palmerston North's central-city toilets resulted in a man being jailed yesterday. The 23-year-old man, convicted of subjecting the schoolboy to indecencies in the toilets in The Square last May, was jailed for three-and a-half years. David Joseph Sharland had pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault on a boy aged between 12 and 16, and inducing the boy to perform an indecent act on him.

On December 16 a Palmerston North District Court jury found him guilty of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection -- oral sex -- on the boy. Sentencing Sharland, Judge Les Atkins told him he was inclined to accept that "in your own mind you did believe he was a willing participant". However, he took the view that the jury, by its verdict and from questions to the judge, had concluded any such belief was not based on reasonable grounds.

There were discrepancies between the accounts of the victim and Sharland which could never be wholly overcome, he said. The judge said he did not regard the relatively low level of violence involved as an aggravating factor in the offending. But the full impact on the victim -- whose life was already disturbed -- was unlikely to be known for some time.

Noting Crown solicitor Saul Holt's position that a three-to-five- year sentence was needed to discourage the use of public toilets as places for anonymous homosexual liaisons, Judge Atkins said "clearly it does". Defence counsel Fergus Steedman had put the case that Sharland had a poor upbringing. Sharland had been sexually abused as a young teen, and in recent years his sexual orientation had been muddled.

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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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