{"id":178582,"date":"2025-12-11T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/178582\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T07:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T07:05:08","slug":"whangarei-child-sex-abuser-george-ace-sentenced-to-15-years-imprisonment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/178582\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei child sex abuser George Ace sentenced to 15 years\u2019 imprisonment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty-seven of the charges related to sexual offending<\/a> against a boy under 12, while the remaining were associated with a female under 12. The offending was historical, repeated and spanned years.<\/p>\n

Both victims<\/a>, who were unaware Ace was offending against the other at the time, read victim impact statements to the court detailing the trauma they had carried for decades.<\/p>\n

The male said he had lived with low self-esteem and a persistent feeling of worthlessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part is knowing I wasn\u2019t the only victim.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man requested that the court impose a significant jail sentence on Ace so he could reclaim a part of his life that was stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve carried this trauma for far too long. Crimes like these should never be taken lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BothBoth victims read their statements in court describing the impact of George Ace’s offending on their lives. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

The female victim said Ace had manipulated her to carry out \u201cpure acts of evil\u201d.<\/p>\n

She had also struggled through her adult life and felt haunted by dark thoughts of the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I will not be silenced,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I stand, not as a victim any more but as a survivor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat lies in the dark eventually comes to the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman believed they were not Ace\u2019s only victims and encouraged others to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not the only one. One day, they will find the strength to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage anyone who has been sexually abused to use their voice and speak up, so that others find strength in their story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crown lawyer<\/a> Ina Stewart said Ace\u2019s offending was serious, particularly against the male, pointing out Ace engaged in a wide range of sexual conduct with the children.<\/p>\n

Stewart highlighted the nearly 20\u2011year age gap between Ace and one of the victims, underscoring that both had placed their trust in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant used this trust placed in him by family members and the victims themselves to gain access to them,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lack of remorse\u2019<\/p>\n

Stewart also pointed out that Ace had threatened to harm the boy\u2019s family if he disclosed any of the abuse and assaulted him on one occasion by throwing him against a weight bench.<\/p>\n

The Crown<\/a> argued Ace should serve half of his sentence before he became eligible for parole.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is required because of the lack of remorse and insight shown from the defendant; the fact that the standard minimum period of imprisonment is one-third is not sufficient,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Ace\u2019s lawyer, Arthur Fairley, said the minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) should be left to the Parole Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the starting point is, it\u2019s going to be a significant term of imprisonment,\u201d Fairley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn MPI has to be assessed and analysed on a case-by-case basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA jury found George Ace guilty of the sexual offending charges earlier this year. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Judge Philip Rzepecky said that despite the jury finding Ace guilty, he continued to deny the offending.<\/p>\n

Ace had no conviction history of sexual abuse, and Judge Rzepecky said there was nothing in his background that could explain why he offended against children.<\/p>\n

\u2018Depraved acts\u2019<\/p>\n

Judge Rzepecky acknowledged the victims\u2019 lives had been significantly affected and made much harder as a result of Ace\u2019s offending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both gave powerful words in today\u2019s sentencing exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge said Ace abused his position of trust in the children\u2019s lives and created opportunities to take advantage of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nature and degree of sexual conduct was very serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were depraved acts on innocent children for your own sexual gratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ace was sentenced to 15 years\u2019 imprisonment and will be required to serve half of the sentence before going before the Parole Board.<\/p>\n

He was also added to the child sex offender register.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty-seven of the charges related to sexual offending against a boy under 12, while the remaining were associated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23968,1903,29768,63824,1763,2511,1968,12856,66305,111,43,139,69,6289,5161,7680,17703,544,1961,61,96,1455,1869,1530],"class_list":["post-178582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-23968","tag-abuse","tag-abuser","tag-ace","tag-article","tag-child","tag-discusses","tag-george","tag-imprisonment","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-readers","tag-sentenced","tag-sex","tag-sexual","tag-some","tag-this","tag-to","tag-upsetting","tag-warning","tag-whangrei","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}