Nield<\/a> would engineer situations so he was alone with the child.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Crown\u2019s submission is one of eight to eight-and-a-half years as a starting point,\u201d Hambler said.<\/p>\n
Nield\u2019s lawyer David Reece disagreed there was any planning involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say it was more towards the random end than the planning end, if your honour understands what I\u2019m saying,\u201d Reece said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see a situation where planning actually plays to a large degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reece submitted a start point of six years was more appropriate.<\/p>\n
![\"Mitchell]()
Mitchell Nield has had a long motocross career. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
\u2018You were trusted wholeheartedly\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge McDonald apologised to the victim for the lengthy delay to trial and praised the victim for her conduct. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was taken with the way which she gave evidence, she didn\u2019t wish to put the boot in or the knife, she could have easily said that it did occur hundreds of times,\u201d Judge McDonald said.<\/p>\n
Judge McDonald remarked that Nield had called the girl an \u201cout and out liar\u201d but worldwide research shows 93-95% of such allegations are true.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomehow the community seem to think the majority of them are untrue. That is not the truth of the truth,\u201d Judge McDonald said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou denied at trial, you denied to the pre-sentence report writer that you committed these offences. But the jury were satisfied that the Crown had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt,\u201d Judge McDonald said.<\/p>\n
Judge McDonald said he had to impose a sentence that deterred his conduct but was also the least restrictive.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour offending was a massive breach of trust, you were trusted wholeheartedly. She was a small young girl and you told her not to say anything,\u201d Judge McDonald said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will carry these scars with her for life. She will have great difficulty trusting any man because of what you did to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge McDonald gave Neild a start point of seven-and-a-half years\u2019 imprisonment but despite his prior good character and no criminal record, he gave no discounts.<\/p>\n
He will be required to go before the Parole Board for release.<\/p>\n
Appearing to be a good person doesn\u2019t make it less serious<\/p>\n
Amanda MacFarlane, court support co-ordinator for Rape Crisis, told NZME for too long there has been the perception that those with respectable backgrounds deserve leniency.<\/p>\n
\u201cA person\u2019s public image, profession, or previously \u2018good\u2019 character should not, and must not, lessen the gravity of what they have been convicted of, or the harm suffered by survivors and their loved ones,\u201d MacFarlane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to be clear, appearing to be a \u2018good person\u2019 does not make offending any less serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is positive to see judges being able to take an approach to sentencing without having to consider good character references, allowing them to focus squarely on the offending and its impact.\u201d<\/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":"It comes after Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently announced a proposed law change removing the need for judges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,1903,95,138,2511,2082,2964,14641,30616,5158,5430,111,139,241730,69,30083,1523,202,7680,17703,427,1961,1455,1530],"class_list":["post-480686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-about","tag-abuse","tag-and","tag-business","tag-child","tag-for","tag-half","tag-jailed","tag-kaikohe","tag-man","tag-mitchell","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nield","tag-nz","tag-offences","tag-over","tag-seven","tag-sex","tag-sexual","tag-story","tag-this","tag-warning","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480686","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=480686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}