A serial groper who indecently assaulted 11 women joggers, and in a separate incident, posted an intimate photo of a woman on Facebook, has been sentenced to five years and four months in jail.
Photo: RNZ
Jason Trembath, 30, who played representative cricket for Taradale Cricket Club at the time of the offending, pled guilty to 11 charges of indecently assaulting 11 young female joggers on separate occasions in Hawke's Bay and Rotorua.
His groping victims included schoolgirls and women with their children as they ran or exercised in public parks or streets.
Trembath's lawyer Nicola Graham told Napier District Court that with his background "this type of offending is almost inexplicable".
But he had methamphetamine, pornography and gambling addictions, she said.
Crown prosecutor Steve Manning said Trembath's offending had "instilled a level of fear" in his 11 victims that meant some were still too scared to walk or run alone in the streets.
"His pattern of offending showed that he was becoming more confident... often in broad day light and in front of witnesses, Mr Manning said.
Judge Geoff Rea sentenced Trembath to three years and nine months in jail for the indecent assaults.
He noted that while he had addiction issues he was able to hold down a demanding job and play representative cricket during the period that the offending took place.
A further one year and seven months was added to his sentence for a taking an intimate photo of a woman he had met after a night out in August 2017.
It was while police were investigating Trembath for the assaults that they discovered a photo he had posted on his Taradale Cricket Club team's closed Facebook page, which showed co-offender Joshua Pauling "straddling" the passed out woman and grinning at the camera while performing a sexual act.
"The nature of the photograph was quite frankly disgusting. You used a power situation where the victim had no control," Judge Geoff Rae told Trembath as he stood in the dock.
"As far as all of these complainants are concerned, the effect on them has been dramatic. I have read the victim impact statements and they are heart wrenching," Judge Rae said.
Pauling was sentenced to 150 hours of community work and nine months supervision for being party to an intimate recording.
