Child Sex Offender Vailea Pola sentenced to 16 years ^Featured

And now the Herald can publish photos of the convicted sex offender.

Vailea Pola must serve at least half of his sentence before he can apply for parole - and will be deported to Tonga as soon as he leaves prison.

Pola was sentenced in the Manukau District Court on May 10 after earlier being convicted on 15 charges relating to the sexual abuse of two young people spanning a five-year period.

He denied all of the offending - but a jury found him guilty of raping and sexually violating a girl and sexually violating and indecently assaulting a boy.

Before Pola was sentenced Judge Chris McGuire granted permission for the Herald to photograph and film the offender in court.

However after sentencing defence lawyer Nalesoni Tupou made a late bid to have all images of Pola suppressed.

He stated he wanted to "appeal" an aspect of Judge McGuire's media ruling.

On May 22 Judge McGuire ruled there could be no appeal of his decision to allow the Herald to record proceedings and he lifted suppression.

Images and video of Pola can now be published.

At sentencing last month the court heard that the abuse started soon after Pola moved to South Auckland from Tonga.

He would go into the bedrooms of the children and rape, violate or assault them - or seek them out when they were away from other people, including in the bathroom.

When he raped the girl he covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from screaming out, and told her that she would "never see her parents again" if she told anyone what had happened.

He told the boy he would "smash him" if he disclosed the abuse.

The Herald has chosen not to publish any specifics of the offending to spare the victims, who are now in their late teens, any further pain.

They were both in court - after giving evidence at Pola's trial - to see him jailed.

They also prepared Victim Impact Statements for the court, which were read in full.

Judge Chris McGuire said the statements brought home "graphically and vividly" the pain Pola had caused his young victims.

They both revealed they had self harmed as a result of the offending.

They also spoke of living in fear of Pola, struggling at school and with relationships and the heartbreak of people close to them not believing them when they finally revealed what he had been doing to them.

"I was only a child, but I knew that what he was doing was wrong," the boy said.

TO READ THE VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS, SCROLL DOWN

Judge McGuire said a pre-sentence report prepared by Probation Services showed the true extent of Pola's dark side.

"Your response was the victims' had lied and you called them troublemakers - you show no remorse," he said.

During the interview for the report, Pola was "relaxed, casual and even laughed at times" when questioned about his sex crimes.

Judge McGuire said those crimes were "abhorrent".

The report also identified Pola as a sexual deviant with a propensity for violence, intimidation and exploitation of others.

He was also very entitled.

"It seems almost to be a sinister, creeping development in our society that or whatever absurd reason, serious sex and other offenders somehow imagine that they are entitled to do what they do - to wreck the lives of others," said Judge McGuire.

"You've caused physical, emotional and psychological harm to two vulnerable children.

"You exploited their trust and stolen their innocence ... the breach of trust, frankly, was gross."

Judge McGuire said aggravating factors in the offending was the age and vulnerability of the victims, the "planning and premeditation" of Pola making advances when they were alone and the repeated threats of violence.

Crown prosecutor Ben Smith sought a sentence of 16 years in prison with no discount for Pola's otherwise clean record.

He said while in some cases a discount for a lack of previous offending was appropriate - it was not for Pola.

"The defendant shows no remorse ... he continues to deny the offending," Smith told the court.

He also asked Judge McGuire to impose a minimum term of imprisonment.

Tupou said there was no need for an MPI (minimum term of imprisonment) as Pola would be deported "as soon as the sun sets on his term of imprisonment".

He said the rapist had no criminal record in Tonga.

However Judge McGuire said the community needed and deserved full protection from Pola and ordered that he serve at least 50 per cent of his sentence.

"I disagree that you do not pose a threat," he said.

"Without acknowledging your wrongdoing, any rehabilitation is frankly impossible and that in the fullness of time when you are released without rehabilitation you are at a high risk of further offending."

Pola, who was aided through sentencing by a Tongan translator, did not show any emotion.

"Judges are often asked if they agree with the jury's verdict," said Judge McGuire.

"I have no hesitation in this case in saying the jury got it right."

POLA'S VICTIMS SPEAK

They were just children when Vailea Pola raped, sexually violated and indecently assaulted them.

He crept into their beds at night, locked himself in bathrooms with them and subjected them to "gross" and "abhorrent" sexual offending.

The victims bravely wrote statements about the offending which were read in court today.

The boy, reading his own statement, said:

When he did these things to me, I was really scared - especially when he said he would smash me.
I was only a child, but I knew what he was doing was wrong.
I just want to forget about what he has done and not think about it.
I get flashbacks ... I go into my room and I think and think and think and think about it - I can't stop.
I cry until I fall asleep.
In the flashbacks I can see my old house, my old bedroom where it happened ...
I thought about harming myself, I've done it once.
I cut my arm to try and make the pain go away.
I have trouble talking to my family about what happened, I am scared I will get flashbacks.
Some of my family support me, some didn't believe me ... I feel betrayed.
It affected my schoolwork, I wasn't able to concentrate, it was always on my mind.
I am confused as to whether I should forgive him or not.

The girl wanted to read her statement in court but was overcome with emotion.

Prosecutor Ben Smith read it to Judge McGuire on her behalf.

I strongly feel this will affect me forever.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because of what he did to me.
I can't stop thinking about it and I can't get back to sleep.
I'll never forget the things he did to me.
That causes a lot of pain to me and my family.
When he did those things I felt hurt and sad ... lonely.
I felt I had no one to talk to about it.
It really affected my schooling - a year after it happened I wagged almost the whole year.
I yelled at teachers ... I was really angry.
I would hurt myself, cut myself.
When the police came to our house it brought it all back and I wanted to hurt myself again.
I have lost trust in people - especially men.
I have some male friends but I can't trust them.
Because of my religion I forgive him - but I don't ever want to see him again.
I hope he can tell the truth one day so it will stop (people) from hating me.

-New Zealand Herald