File photo. Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Warning: This story discusses sexual abuse.
A former teacher at Dilworth School, convicted of sexual abuse of multiple young boys, will spend less time behind bars after a court ruled he should have been given a greater discount for reparation he paid his victims.
Robert Howard Gladwin Wynyard, 74, was in February sentenced to six years and three months behind bars for the historical abuse which spanned 20 years against eight victims.
Two weeks before his scheduled trial, he pleaded guilty to nine charges of indecency between a man and a boy and two charges of indecent assault on a person under 12.
The children were between the ages of 8 and 15 when they were groomed.
Soon after sentencing, he appealed his sentence to the Court of Appeal, claiming his ongoing stint behind bars was "manifestly excessive".
The appeal alleged sentencing judge Justice Simon Moore failed to make proper allowances for Wynyard's remorse, reparation paid to victims and his own experiences of sexual abuse as a child.
The appeal was opposed by the Crown.
In a decision released on 14 September, the Court of Appeal allowed part of the appeal, reducing Wynyard's prison sentence by five months.
At the High Court sentencing, Justice Moore granted a 30 percent total sentence discount from a sentence starting point of nine years' imprisonment, including 20 percent for his guilty pleas.
A further 10 percent discount was added for remorse and the $10,000 he paid in reparations to each victim. He earlier sold his home to fund the reparation payments.
While the judge acknowledged that Wynyard was sexually abused himself as a child, he did not grant a further discount.
Wynyard's lawyer Justin Harder said the sentence starting point should have been seven years, based on sentences in previous cases and the sentencing practices at the time of the offending in the 1980s.
While agreeing with the 20 percent discount for guilty pleas, Harder believed Wynyard should have received 10 percent respectively for remorse, reparation and personal circumstances, bringing the total discount to 50 percent.
The sentence should be no greater than three to four years imprisonment, he said.
For the Crown, Jacob Barry said the sentence was in range and no error was made by the judge.
The Court of Appeal ruled that, "while stern", the sentencing starting point adopted by Justice Moore on the most serious charges was well within the available range. The overall starting point of nine years was also appropriate, it found.
When it came to the discount for reparation, the court said payments made must be a mitigating factor in sentencing, but there is "no fixed tariff".
It was noted the victims were sceptical about Wynyard's motives with the payment. "A recurring theme was that the victims did not believe that the payment expiated or mitigated Mr Wynyard's wrongs," the Court of Appeal decision said.
"Nevertheless, in our judgement the 10 percent allowed by the judge for remorse and for the payment of reparation was insufficient. There was clear remorse expressed by Mr Wynyard."
The court uplifted the discount to 15 percent. It could have been 20 percent, the court said, but it found Justice Moore was already generous in his 20 percent discount for guilty pleas that came just two weeks before trial.
When it came to the claim for a discount of 10 percent for his experience of abuse as a child, the court ruled that the severity of the offending against boys who trusted him did not allow a discount.
"Mr Wynyard cynically and callously abused that trust. The scale and extent of his offending is such that a discount for his personal background is not available to him."
Overall, the court only amended the discount related to reparation and remorse, from 10 percent to 15 percent.
The sentence of six years and three months imprisonment was quashed and replaced with a sentence of five years and 10 months.