A 14-year-old Christchurch girl was the victim of rape and violation by the same nighttime intruder who entered her home and committed sex attacks two months apart.
Preventive detention may be considered for 35-year-old Corey David Fowler, a Phillipstown man who admitted eight charges in the High Court at Christchurch today.
The court was told by Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier that Fowler had convictions for sex offences in the 1990s.
She said this, along with the latest convictions, qualified him for the open-ended prison sentence to be considered for his sentencing which has been set for March 16.
Fowler’s guilty pleas to seven sex charges and a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice were entered at a pre-trial session 11 days before his High Court trial was due to begin.
Defence counsel Serina Bailey said there had been a long gap since the earlier offending which had been committed when Fowler was a teenager, and there had been no offending in the intervening years.
Justice Cameron Mander granted the Crown request for the two reports by health assessors – usually a psychologist and a psychiatrist – to be prepared so that a decision could be made on whether to seek preventive detention.
The reports consider the risk of the offender committing further serious crimes.
Fowler admitted two charges of rape, two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, attempted sexual violation, burglary with a weapon, sexual conduct with a young person, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
On June 17, 2015, Fowler gained entry to a Christchurch house where the girl was sleeping, and went into her bedroom. He forcibly removed her clothing, raped her, and performed a sex act without her consent.
Between 4am and 5am on August 12, 2015, Fowler again entered the girl’s home, through a bedroom window.
He forced the girl out of bed and blindfolded her with a dressing gown belt. He then produced a knife with a 10cm blade and told the crying girl “it could be done the easy way or the hard way”, Miss Boshier told the court.
The girl still refused to comply, and Fowler then undressed her. He prevented her leaving, held her down, and whenever she tried to call out he pressed the knife against her back.
He then did a series of sex acts on the girl, including rape and anal intercourse.
He took a gold coloured chain from a hook on her door before he left. He told the girl that if she told anyone he would come back and things would be worse next time.
Fowler’s semen was found on the girl’s clothing, and on her body. The gold chain was found in a bag in his partner’s garage.
When Fowler saw that police were making inquiries, he told his partner to say that he had been home with her all night. She made that statement to the police, but retracted it later.
Tracking of his cellphone showed it was in the area of the girl’s house at the time, and not in the area of his partner’s house.
The judge made an order for a psychologist to prepare the girl’s victim impact statement for the sentencing. Miss Boshier said this would give the court better information about the long term effects of the offending on the victim.
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