DNA check solves rape case

After giving a DNA sample at a police checkpoint an 18-year-old was charged with a historic rape said to have been committed when he was 15.Reported By A Pakistan Times

Napier labourer Jacob Olaf Nelson was charged with rape, unlawful sexual connection, indecent assault and performing an indecent act on a 14-year-old girl after DNA evidence given matched that taken from a semen sample in 2007.

He pleaded guilty in Napier District Court and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Crown prosecutor Fiona Cleary said the aggravating factors were the age of the girl and her vulnerability because of extreme intoxication and recommended a starting point of about eight years.

Nelson's lawyer Tony Snell said his client had been unaware of the charges, otherwise he would not have consented to providing a DNA sample and described the offending as "opportunistic".

The police summary of facts said the two had been drinking at a 21st birthday party, where the girl become extremely intoxicated.

Noting her intoxication, two females then took her to an address where Nelson was also welcome and put her to bed.

Nelson followed the girls home and when the victim was alone entered the room and raped her.

When she asked him who he was he said nothing and hid his head with a blanket.
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Mr Snell said the "reality of what happened here is there were two people who got very drunk. Mr Nelson has no recollection of this offending".

"Since the DNA swab was made and a hit on the database was made he has been completely co-operative with police - this is an episode that he did not know had occurred."

Judge Lindsay Moore said it was the community's responsibility to look after their young people who acted before thinking when drunk. "The simple reality was that she was too drunk to offer proficient resistance or kick up enough fuss," he said. "This is a young fella who knowing this young girl had, in effect been taken for her own protection, to a house he was also welcome in quite deliberately used the fact he could get into the house without drawing attention to himself to exploit her sexually."

Addressing Nelson, he said: "She was your target. There was nothing random about it."

He noted that many in the gallery could have looked after the complainant and victim better, saying: "Putting the blame on you does not reflect the role of the community to protect its young people."
Sources: www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz