A paedophile has lost his appeal against conviction for engaging in sexual activity with two boys in return for money and goods.
Donald Ian Clarke was sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum period of nine years imprisonment after being convicted in Tauranga District Court on 12 representative and specific charges of sexual offending with the boys, aged 14 and 11.
His counsel told the Court of Appeal that a videoed police interview with Clarke watched by the trial jury was prejudicial to his case and should have been first been edited.
The interview alluded to Clarke's previous convictions for sexual offences against children in 1983, 1986, 1987 and 2002, despite his criminal history being suppressed.
But the appeal judge ruled that Clarke's sexual proclivities were already in evidence and the "extra element" of prejudice as arose out of the video could not have improperly influenced the jury.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
