Libby Wilson - Stuff.co.nz
A drunk man who accepted a ride home from a stranger awoke to the man performing oral sex on him.
The victim, who can’t be named, rang police before he was fully out of the car, which was parked in a dead end in Hamilton North.
Richmond Tawhiao Whitiora, 51, appeared in Hamilton District Court on Monday and was sent to jail for three years and two months over the July 2019 offending.
He denies it, but was found guilty by a jury – a decision Judge Glen Marshall saw as “almost inevitable”.
Whitiora encountered his victim in central Hamilton early on July 27, 2019, around bar closing time.
The man was intoxicated and struggling to use the Uber app.
According to defence counsel James Gurnick, Whitiora asked if the man was okay, and offered a lift several times.
However, Crown prosecutor Rebecca Mann said Whitiora persistently urged the man into his car.
The man, who was described in trial as “virtually comatose”, got in, and repeatedly fell asleep.
Whitiora first stopped at Swarbrick Landing on River Road, then at a dead end in Hamilton North.
The man woke up to Whitiora performing oral sex, confronted Whitiora and called police.
The victim had shown “a very high degree of resilience”, Judge Marshall said.
Whitiora went to police to deflect responsibility, saying he “only tried to give him help and assistance” and the victim was the aggressor, Judge Marshall said.
It seemed “opportunistic and predatory offending”, unlikely to be repeated.
However, Judge Marshall urged Whitiora to consider accepting the jury’s guilty verdict, which would open up treatment options in jail.
Whitiora’s end sentence was three years two months in prison.