Teh One Who Knocks
02-20-2012, 05:42 PM
By DAVID CLARKSON - Fairfax NZ News
An 33-year-old man continued a relationship with a teenage girl, despite being charged with having under-age sex with her.
Craig Richard Philpot, unemployed, was also getting texts from another 15-year-old girl until his 14-year-old girlfriend told her to stop.
Philpot will stay in custody for his Christchurch District Court sentencing on June 22, after admitting four charges at a court sitting inside the men's prison today.
He admitted two charges of grooming and meeting under-age girls, and two charges of having sex with a girl aged under 16.
Some have been laid as representative charges, indicating the offences occurred repeatedly.
He will also be sentenced on a drink-driving charge he has admitted.
He faces being given a first-strike warning at his sentencing under the Government's tougher sentencing regime for repeat serious offenders.
Police told the court of Philpot meeting the girl when she was aged 13. She got his cell phone number and began sending him text messages.
On January 28, 2011, he took her out around Christchurch hotels. He bought her lemonade and added vodka while he drank beer.
He also urged her not to reply to texts from her separated parents who were both trying to reach her.
At 4am he told her he was too drunk to drive her home and took her to a Hornby address where he was living with his elderly parents.
Philpot's father eventually came in to say that the police were at the door and the girl in his bed was aged only 13. The police apparently weren't there, but Philpot took her to her home.
Weeks later the texting between the two began again and Philpot would pick her up after school and take her to places she wanted to go. The two agreed in March 2011 that they wanted a relationship. That month the girl turned 14.
There was no physical contact between them for several weeks but Philpot would take her to hotels to drink, and introduced her as his girlfriend and told people she was 16.
"Sometimes she would wear her school uniform when they went inside hotels," the police said. He would buy her alcohol.
They began having sex at Philpot's address. The girl began missing school and her behaviour deteriorated. She was telling her mother she was staying at girlfriends' houses.
The girl's mother became suspicious about her movements and discovered texts on her phone arranging to meet Philpot and spend the night with him. She confronted the girl who claimed she had been raped.
She told a specialist child interviewer she had been abducted and raped but later changed her story to tell about the consensual relationship.
"She said she told her mother she had been raped because she had not wanted her mother to be disappointed in her," the police said.
After Philpot was arrested and released on bail, the pair began seeing each other again several times a week.
Police also told of Philpot befriending another girl aged 15, sending her messages over the internet, buying her vodka, and then sending texts asking her to stay the night.
That girl agreed, telling her family she was staying at a girlfriend's house overnight and it was a teacher-only day at school next day.
She spent the night, but the police say only kissing and cuddling took place.
The girl continued to text Philpot until she got a text from his 14-year-old girlfriend telling her to stop.
Philpot told the police he believed the second girl was 16.
An 33-year-old man continued a relationship with a teenage girl, despite being charged with having under-age sex with her.
Craig Richard Philpot, unemployed, was also getting texts from another 15-year-old girl until his 14-year-old girlfriend told her to stop.
Philpot will stay in custody for his Christchurch District Court sentencing on June 22, after admitting four charges at a court sitting inside the men's prison today.
He admitted two charges of grooming and meeting under-age girls, and two charges of having sex with a girl aged under 16.
Some have been laid as representative charges, indicating the offences occurred repeatedly.
He will also be sentenced on a drink-driving charge he has admitted.
He faces being given a first-strike warning at his sentencing under the Government's tougher sentencing regime for repeat serious offenders.
Police told the court of Philpot meeting the girl when she was aged 13. She got his cell phone number and began sending him text messages.
On January 28, 2011, he took her out around Christchurch hotels. He bought her lemonade and added vodka while he drank beer.
He also urged her not to reply to texts from her separated parents who were both trying to reach her.
At 4am he told her he was too drunk to drive her home and took her to a Hornby address where he was living with his elderly parents.
Philpot's father eventually came in to say that the police were at the door and the girl in his bed was aged only 13. The police apparently weren't there, but Philpot took her to her home.
Weeks later the texting between the two began again and Philpot would pick her up after school and take her to places she wanted to go. The two agreed in March 2011 that they wanted a relationship. That month the girl turned 14.
There was no physical contact between them for several weeks but Philpot would take her to hotels to drink, and introduced her as his girlfriend and told people she was 16.
"Sometimes she would wear her school uniform when they went inside hotels," the police said. He would buy her alcohol.
They began having sex at Philpot's address. The girl began missing school and her behaviour deteriorated. She was telling her mother she was staying at girlfriends' houses.
The girl's mother became suspicious about her movements and discovered texts on her phone arranging to meet Philpot and spend the night with him. She confronted the girl who claimed she had been raped.
She told a specialist child interviewer she had been abducted and raped but later changed her story to tell about the consensual relationship.
"She said she told her mother she had been raped because she had not wanted her mother to be disappointed in her," the police said.
After Philpot was arrested and released on bail, the pair began seeing each other again several times a week.
Police also told of Philpot befriending another girl aged 15, sending her messages over the internet, buying her vodka, and then sending texts asking her to stay the night.
That girl agreed, telling her family she was staying at a girlfriend's house overnight and it was a teacher-only day at school next day.
She spent the night, but the police say only kissing and cuddling took place.
The girl continued to text Philpot until she got a text from his 14-year-old girlfriend telling her to stop.
Philpot told the police he believed the second girl was 16.