Wheelchair-using Northland rapist fails in bid to appeal his sentence
Stephen Robert Wilson statutory release date is in March 2030.
Photo:
123RF
WARNING: This article deals with the topic of sexual offending and may be distressing for some readers.
Three-time convicted rapist Stephen Robert Wilson has used a wheelchair throughout all his years in prison.
Now, seven years into his sentence, he has tried to appeal his jail term, arguing that he should have received a lighter sentence because of his disability, which he said was caused by an injury he got in a prison van.
The Court of Appeal has turned him down, and in doing so has detailed a history of scepticism from people who have dealt with Wilson about whether his disability is genuine.
The Court of Appeal noted that "no physical origin" had been diagnosed for his symptoms, which doctors have suggested might have a psychological cause.
The Parole Board has also declined to release Wilson this year, more than halfway through his 12-year, eight-month jail term.
His statutory release date is in March 2030.
Wilson was found guilty at an October 2018 trial in the Whangārei District Court of raping three women.
He appeared before the jury in a wheelchair, saying he had hemiplegia - a paralysis on the right side of his body - caused by a head and spinal injury he received in 2016 when he struck the side of a prison van not long after his arrest that year.
Wilson said he only had the use of his left leg and left wrist as his right arm and leg, and his upper left arm, were paralysed. He also needed to wear adult diapers.
After the onset of his condition, Wilson spent about 10 months in hospital and then a rest home.
He was then in a high-dependency unit at Rimutaka Prison for more than a year before he was granted electronically monitored bail in the lead-up to his trial.
He has been in custody since his trial and said his condition made him vulnerable to assaults and bullying from other inmates.
Wilson has already tried to appeal his convictions unsuccessfully and sought leave from the Court of Appeal this year to appeal his sentence.
Usually, offenders have only 20 working days to appeal against their sentence.
However, Wilson sought leave from the court to do so after seven years, arguing he never knew he could challenge his punishment on the grounds of hardship because of a disability.
The sentencing judge did not give a discount for hardship and Wilson's lawyer didn't ask for one.
The judge said that a probation officer's pre-sentence report had noted that Wilson had "much more mobility than you have shown when you have been in court".
In seeking leave to appeal, Wilson allowed his lawyer to say why he did not seek a discount for the disability.
"I recall there was always scepticism by the court, the police and the prison towards Mr Wilson's condition," lawyer Wayne McKean told the appeal court.
"He did not get a lot of sympathy from prison staff while on remand."
Another lawyer, Phillip Osborne, who assisted with the appeal against conviction, said he was not sure what to make of Wilson's condition because he was aware that the Department of Corrections had alleged he did have movement in the right side of his body.
Corrections had produced a "movement log" to counter Wilson's assertions, he said.
"I had also read psychological reports which suggested that there was no physical cause for his illness," Osborne said.
The Court of Appeal justices said that two doctors who assessed Wilson's fitness for trial in 2018 considered he may have a conversion disorder or factitious disorder.
A conversion disorder is a psychiatric condition where people experience symptoms without medical cause.
A factitious disorder, formerly known as Munchausen syndrome, is a mental health condition where people display physical symptoms, sometimes to gain sympathy.
"One of the doctors considered that his presentation at that time may have been driven by distress at his imprisonment and the possibility of secondary gain from his symptoms," the Court of Appeal decision said.
"At that stage Mr Wilson was still being tested to exclude a physical origin for his symptoms.
"No physical origin for his symptoms has been diagnosed to date."
The Court of Appeal declined Wilson's leave to appeal his sentence.
The Parole Board declined to release Wilson in April.
It said he wanted to be released to the Northland region, where psychological services were limited and no counselling services were available to address his sexual offending.
The board said his release proposals could not be progressed because of the risk and the level of care he required.
During the Parole Board hearing, Wilson left the room and did not return.
The board is due to see him again in August.
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
32 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Record-breaking amount of LSD worth more than $1 million seized
More than 40,000 tabs of LSD was found. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police A record-breaking quantity of LSD with a street value of more than $1 million has been seized. More than 40,000 tabs of the illicit substance has been found after police executed four search warrants across Auckland last week. It came as a result of an investigation into the importation and supply of class A drugs from the United States into New Zealand. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police The largest LSD seizure previously seen here was in 2000 when police seized two separate hauls of 14,000 tabs each. A 30-year-old man is facing several drug charges including for possession and supply of cocaine and LSD, while a 25-year-old man has been charged with importing cocaine. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Man arrested after armed robbery at Kensington Tavern in Whangārei
A man with a gun entered Kensington Tavern about 10 o'clock on 25 July fired a shot into the ceiling before demanding money. Photo: Supplied Police have arrested a man they say was behind a brazen robbery of a Whangārei bar in which one person was injured and a shot was fired into the pub's ceiling. Detective Senior Sergeant Michelle Harris, of the Whangārei CIB, said the man entered Kensington Tavern about 10 o'clock on Friday and discharged a firearm before demanding money. She said officers put in long hours throughout the weekend to track down the offender, which culminated in a police operation outside an Okara Drive business on Monday afternoon. A 35-year-old man was arrested and would face serious charges when he appeared in the Whangārei District Court on Tuesday. Those charges included aggravated robbery with a firearm, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and discharging a firearm to intimidate. The gun was also recovered on Monday afternoon, Harris said. Police would oppose bail when the man appeared in court. Harris said she was proud of her team's work. "There's no place for callous violence in which puts law-abiding members of the public in harm's way. You will be held to account." Harris acknowledged Whangārei residents who contacted police with information throughout the weekend. Earlier, Kensington Tavern owner Craig Woods told RNZ a man wielding a gun burst into the premises via the smoker's area, went behind the bar, and demanded staff give him money from the till. He said two staff members and three customers were still in the pub at the time. "The staff did the correct thing by giving them the till, and it all happened pretty quickly. But one of the patrons intervened. The offender sort of broke free, and so the patron backed off." Woods said the patron fell after his tussle with the robber and hit his head, which required stitches. St John Ambulance said one person was taken to hospital with moderate injuries. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
At-risk Invercargill prisoners still being placed in dry cells, despite warnings
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Corrections has continued locking suicidal Invercargill prisoners in rooms with no toilet or drinking water, despite being reprimanded for the practice six years ago. In 2019, then-Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier found it breached United Nations standards meant to prevent the torture of prisoners and to ensure their dignity. Since then prisoners identified as at-risk were placed in so-called dry cells at least 14 times, data obtained under Official Information Act showed. Dry cells, located in the prison's Intervention and Support Unit (ISU), were designed for monitoring prisoners suspected of hiding contraband. Corrections said at-risk prisoners were typically put in a different area of the unit, known as the 'safer cells' - rooms with no ligature points which allowed for close monitoring and access to specialist care. On 13 of the 14 occasions at-risk prisoners were placed in the dry cells since 2019, Corrections said the safer cells were full. Most of the instances occurred in 2023, and the most recent was in November 2024. Deputy Commissioner for Men's Prisons Neil Beales said staff were left with little choice. "We still have a responsibility to make sure that that person is properly looked after and we can't put them in a cell where there may be ligature points. It appears that what they've done there is they've used what was available to them," he said. "Nobody is saying that is optimal and preferable, but unfortunately it's unavoidable in those circumstances." When at-risk Invercargill prisoners were put in dry cells, they were still closely monitored and had access to specialised care, Corrections said. Beales said the duration of the stays varied - sometimes overnight and sometimes a few hours. Multiple watchdogs had warned Corrections about the use of dry cells for at-risk prisoners. The Ombudsman highlighted the issue in 2019 after an unannounced visit to Invercargill Prison. At the time Boshier visited, he said Invercargill Prison's three ISU safer cells were full, and two at-risk prisoners were being held in dry cells. They had been given cardboard receptacles instead of a toilet, he said. Boshier found that contravened Rule 15 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners which stated "sanitary installations shall be adequate to enable every prisoner to comply with the needs of nature when necessary, in a clean and decent manner". In 2021, Boshier also warned against the use of dry cells for at-risk prisoners at Christchurch Men's and Whanganui Prisons. "Dry cells are a desolate and barren environment for prisoners who are already vulnerable. I do not consider it is ever appropriate to put at-risk people into cells with no toilets or drinking water," he said. In 2023, the Office of the Inspectorate also warned Corrections against the practice. Chief Inspector of Corrections Janis Adair spelled out her concerns in a report on Separation and Isolation across the country's prison system. "We observed that the dry cells were sometimes being used outside their intended purpose, for example because there were insufficient at-risk cells. This is not appropriate as the dry cells are especially restrictive," she said. "Dry cells also have no furniture, and the mattress is placed either directly on the floor, or on a low concrete base." Amnesty International New Zealand advocacy and movement building director Lisa Woods said the continued use of dry cells for at-risk Invercargill prisoners was an utter failure. "People being placed in such conditions, especially after the Ombudsman has made it clear it goes against international human rights standards - it's beyond appalling," she said. "This ... shows the system is utterly broken." A breach of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, should be treated seriously, Woods said. "Over and over again, the criminal justice system is failing to treat people in its care with dignity, and this is unacceptable," she said. "Everyone has the right to dignity. That's inherent and important." Howard League for Penal Reform spokesperson Cosmo Jeffery, who was placed in a dry cell himself in the early 2000s, said he would not wish it on anyone, let alone someone in a vulnerable mental state. "It's totally inhumane. It's going back to the dark ages," he said. He questioned the lack of action to prevent the use of dry cells for at-risk prisoners. "There doesn't seem to be any resolution. There's no appetite for change," Jeffery said. Since 2019, the population of Invercargill prison had fluctuated between 110 and 182 inmates, including people on remand. Beales said there had been a notable rise in the number of arrivals with significant mental health, drug and alcohol issues. "I know that our managers at those sites will do everything in their power not to use those cells. But when you're stuck with nowhere else to put them that is safe - we can't put people who are at risk on a bus and send them up the road, because that can be equally as damaging, as dangerous," he said. "They have to make the best decisions for safety of the people that we're managing and also the safety of our staff." RNZ asked Beales why Corrections had not increased the number of ISU safer cells in Invercargill Prison. He said given the nature and age of the building, Corrections had decided to invest its money elsewhere in the prison network. "What we've done is focus resources where they're going to give us better bang for buck." Corrections opened 500 new high-security beds at Waikeria Prison last month, and 96 dedicated mental health and addiction beds, he said. "If we utilise those facilities better, we take the pressure off the rest of the network," Beales said. Asked if dry cells would continue to be used for at-risk prisoners at Invercargill Prison, Beales said that would come down to capacity. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
