Jail for burglary, sex crimes

A Morrinsville man convicted of having sex with an underage girl said he thought his actions were "OK" because the girl's parents knew about the affair.

Scott John Gadsby, 22, was sentenced yesterday in the Hamilton District Court to two years and nine months' jail after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of sexual connection with a young person aged 15.

Gadsby also admitted one charge of burglary, and charges of unlawfully possessing a firearm and breaching a protection order.

The court was told the charge of sexual connection with a young person stemmed from a consensual liaison between Gadsby and the complainant.

Defence counsel Mike Curran said Gadsby acknowledged it was wrong to have sex with an underage person but thought it was OK because the pairs' parents knew about them.

Gadsby was remorseful, had no previous convictions of a sexual nature, and did not display any sexual predatory behaviour, Mr Curran said.

A pre-sentence report, however, said Gadsby tried to minimise his offending and shift responsibility on to others.

In a victim impact statement, the complainant confirmed the sex was consensual but said the defendant had manipulated the situation.

In an unrelated incident, Gadsby admitted burgling a rural property with an associate and stealing firearms.

At the time of the break-in, Gadsby was serving a sentence of community detention and intensive supervision after earlier admitting a charge of burglary and recklessly discharging a firearm.

Mr Curran told Judge Arthur Tompkins that Gadsby came from a good background but exercised "appalling decision-making".

- © Fairfax NZ News