Josie Dean Palmer

Background

Background
NZ Herald story here
Bay of Plenty Times story here
Waikato Times story here

Waikato Times story 9th April 2011
A convicted sex offender who broke into women's homes at night to act out his sexual fantasies will be kept in prison indefinitely. Josie Palmer was fulfilling a drunken urge to have sex with a stranger when he crept into a Hamilton woman's home last July. It was the latest in a series of night-time home invasions. Palmer, 34, stared impassively in the High Court in Hamilton as Justice Priestley outlined Palmer's history of sex offending dating back to 1999. The Hamilton man – who was sentenced to a term of preventive detention this week – had earlier pleaded guilty to indecent assault, burglary, theft and conversion of a motor vehicle.

The latest charges relate to an incident on July 18 in which Palmer broke into a woman's home, lay down next to her as she slept and touched her buttocks. When the woman woke, Palmer pretended to be asleep. He then left the house, taking the victim's car keys and some personal items, and got into her car. Palmer was confronted outside by one of the woman's associates and stayed inside the car until police arrived. Crown prosecutor Richard Annandale said Palmer's criminal history showed a propensity for breaking into homes at night with the intention of committing sexual offences. Referring to his latest offence, Palmer said in a pre-sentence report he was glad the victim had woken when she did.

Palmer said he didn't know how far his behaviour would have gone, adding he had raped before. Justice Priestley said Palmer's comments were "an alarming admission". In 1999 Palmer was sentenced to 10 years' jail after breaking into a woman's home through a cat-flap and raping her. Palmer was released from prison in 2006 but three months later was found inside a Tauranga woman's home at night. The woman woke to find Palmer crouching next to her bed. He was later sentenced to 15 months' jail. Defence counsel Kerry Tustin said Palmer's actions reflected someone desperate to get caught and "put their worst foot forward". Palmer was candid about his fantasies of having sex with strangers. Justice Priestley noted all Palmer's offending occurred while drunk, his latest break-in coming after he consumed 16 pre-mixed drinks.

Palmer had been in prison nearly all his entire adult life and possessed no flight instinct when offending. Although Palmer's criminal history was not lengthy, it gave legitimate cause for alarm about possible future offending, the judge said. A psychologist report assessed Palmer at medium to high risk of further sexual offending within 10 years of being released from jail. Justice Priestley said Palmer failed to address the causes of his offending, adding preventive detention was required to protect the community. He imposed a five-year, non-parole period. The judge told Palmer there was "something seriously amiss within your head" and recommended he be enrolled in an intensive sex offenders programme in prison. When released from jail it was vital Palmer "play ball and stay off the turps", the judge said.