Today in the Rotorua District Court the 16 year old who raped the 5 year old daughter of overseas tourists in Turangi last December was sentenced to 10 years in jail. The youth, Raurangi Marino has himself come from a violent background and a dysfunctional family and had a history of taking alcohol and drugs.

Alan Bell of the child protection agency ECPAT Child ALERT says “As one of the agencies that the parents of the girl victim gifted a donation to following the demonstration of support from the New Zealand public we feel a sense of grief and frustration today. We feel grief for the victim and her family and that this sort of horrendous offence can take place in New Zealand. We feel grief that too many families are dysfunctional. That too many parents are not being good role models for their children. We are frustrated that case after case of child abuse continues in a country that previously had a good record of caring for children.”

Although Marino’s parents had been involved in gangs the defence argued that the offender had been drinking alcohol over a lengthy period prior to committing the offence and he had little recall of the incident.

“The sentence should surely send a signal that this sort of crime will not be tolerated in New Zealand. It can only be hoped that during his stay in jail Marino will receive some life skills and guidance that perhaps has been denied him previously. It is a long time for a youth to be locked away but he will still be a young man when released and will have plenty of opportunity to demonstrate that he can make a positive contribution to society” says Bell. “We will use the $2,000.00 donated to our organisation by the girl’s parents to further the work with our Youth Participation Programme (YPP) to engage with youth and mobilise them to become child advocates. Our belief is that law enforcement is essential but it must be supported by both young and old to prevent any form of child abuse – including sexual exploitation.”

ENDS

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