{"id":389322,"date":"2026-04-20T21:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389322\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:11:08","slug":"hamilton-man-liam-marsh-exposes-himself-outside-school-then-accosts-women-in-carpark-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389322\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton man Liam Marsh exposes himself outside school, then accosts women in carpark, office"},"content":{"rendered":"

But counsel Christine Hardy told Judge Garry Collin that Marsh\u2019s traumatic brain injury, suffered as a child, was a key factor in his offending<\/a>, and urged him to take that into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the bit that worries me,\u201d Judge Collin<\/a> told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a risk,\u201d he later told a Corrections representative.<\/p>\n

\u2018Put it away\u2019<\/p>\n

All of Marsh\u2019s charges stemmed from February 25 this year, and began outside Frankton Primary School.<\/p>\n

He was walking west along Massey St outside the school at 2.45pm when a parent, collecting her children, was walking toward the front gate.<\/p>\n

She noticed Marsh four to five metres away, holding his pants down with his hand, exposing his genitals.<\/p>\n

Marsh was staring at her, and continued to walk towards her, while \u201cmultiple\u201d members of the public could also see his genitals.<\/p>\n

When he got to within two or three metres away, the victim told him to \u201cput it away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Marsh replied; \u201cIt\u2019s for later\u201d.<\/p>\n

She ignored him as she walked into the school gates to inform school staff.<\/p>\n

Ninety minutes later, Marsh was walking along Pembroke St when he noticed a woman walk back into her work.<\/p>\n

He knocked on the door, and she opened it, believing he might be a client.<\/p>\n

He said; \u201cYou\u2019re pretty, can I get into you?\u201d.<\/p>\n

He then repeated his question and started to lean forward in the doorway, leaving the victim in shock.<\/p>\n

She closed and locked the door, as Marsh continued talking to her, and made a comment about \u201cballs\u201d.<\/p>\n

The victim then backed away from the door as Marsh tried to open it, and continued to hang around for about a minute before walking towards Clarence St Pak\u2019nSave.<\/p>\n

At 4.07pm, Marsh was walking out of the supermarket as a woman was loading groceries into the back of her car with her daughter.<\/p>\n

He walked towards the victim\u2019s trolley, stopped in front of it, and said; \u201cDo you want to ride my c***\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shocked and not fully comprehending what he\u2019d said, the victim replied, \u201cpardon?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Marsh repeated the question.<\/p>\n

She then got upset and yelled at Marsh, who got a fright and walked off through the carpark towards Tristram St roundabout, before she called the police.<\/p>\n

At 5.50pm, he got back to his supported accommodation in Weka St, Frankton.<\/p>\n

His caregiver was there, and he walked into the living room and said; \u201cDo you want me to punch you?\u201d.<\/p>\n

The victim replied, \u201cNo,\u201d but Marsh punched her in the jaw, sending her back into the wall behind her.<\/p>\n

She then picked up a chair and held it in front of herself as protection, as Marsh picked up the victim\u2019s laptop and threw it at her, hitting her neck and chest.<\/p>\n

He picked the laptop up again and threw it on the ground.<\/p>\n

When questioned, Marsh said he thought his knuckles connected with the victim\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u2018Liam\u2019s a risk\u2019<\/p>\n

Marsh\u2019s counsel, Christine Hardy, said her client accepted he would be going to prison.<\/p>\n

She added that his traumatic brain injury, which he suffered as a child, was in part, the cause of the offending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the bit that worries me,\u201d Judge Collin replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may have more limited capacity to determine his actions than some other people … he is therefore an ongoing risk, and … although prison is inevitable, it may not be a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardy agreed but said it did appear that if Marsh was jailed, the prison could help in getting a psychiatric assessment, which was what was recommended in a pre-sentence report.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big problems for him is that the housing options for him are very limited,\u201d the judge replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiam\u2019s a risk,\u201d the judge told a Corrections representative, in discussions about a secure rehabilitation facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is, sir,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

\u2018I feared for my safety\u2019<\/p>\n

In her victim impact statement, Marsh\u2019s caregiver said she was shocked at being assaulted, as she had never questioned her skills, as she was good at her job.<\/p>\n

However, the attack had left her fearing for her safety, and about four hours after the attack, she started vomiting, which she would later discover was due to suffering a concussion.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s serious safety concerns here\u2019<\/p>\n

In sentencing Marsh, Judge Collins said the facts were \u201cvery concerning because they raise serious concerns regarding the safety of the public\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concerns are evident from his criminal history,\u201d the judge said before detailing convictions going back to 2013, ranging from assaulting a child, indecent assault, doing an indecent act, and other violence, theft, and property-related charges.<\/p>\n

Marsh acknowledged his behaviour, which he said was due to getting tired from his brain injury \u201cand it makes him do stupid things\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report highlights that he makes comments of being highly sexually driven … and that he has the potential to escalate toward serious physical harm to others in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Te Whatu Ora report noted the risks he poses, including a lack of judgment, unpredictability, being at risk from others, and being vulnerable himself.<\/p>\n

He now had nowhere to live due to his behaviour, so Judge Collin jailed him for 13 months, but granted him leave to apply for home detention should a room in a secure facility become available.<\/p>\n

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But counsel Christine Hardy told Judge Garry Collin that Marsh\u2019s traumatic brain injury, suffered as a child, was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[91643,26665,4053,6288,8241,78,20409,5158,83587,111,43,139,69,6270,14727,4062,107,2248],"class_list":{"0":"post-389322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-accosts","9":"tag-carpark","10":"tag-exposes","11":"tag-hamilton","12":"tag-himself","13":"tag-in","14":"tag-liam","15":"tag-man","16":"tag-marsh","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-office","22":"tag-outside","23":"tag-school","24":"tag-then","25":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389322","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=389322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}