Waikato man Glen Wright jailed for 16 years for sexually assaulting three boys

The jury found Wright guilty of 15 charges involving the three victims and acquitted him of two charges involving a fourth victim.

All the offending occurred when Wright was in his 20s and the victims were aged between 11 and 14.

Wright was jailed on three charges of unlawful sexual connection, one of which was representative, eight charges of sexual conduct with a boy under 16, and four of indecent communication with a young person.

As well as sexual acts, Wright bribed one of the victims with cigarettes and cash and encouraged him to keep everything quiet.

Wright was sentenced in October last year but NZME can only now print his story after a suppression order lapsed last month.

A mother of one of the boys told NZME that while her son was “happy” with Wright’s prison sentence, he remained “uncontrollably angry”.

‘Glen just wanted to use and abuse me’

Victim A was under 10 when he first met Wright and said initially it was “fun” hanging out with him.

Wright bought him presents and he looked up to him like a brotherly, fatherly kind of figure.

But when he began abusing him, “I changed”.

“At school I was a ratbag … then I became withdrawn.”

He never told his parents what happened, and he began fighting with them. He’d fall asleep in class and would later realise that he was depressed.

He was drinking alcohol and smoking weed every day. One day, he found himself on top of a roof with no idea how he got there.

“What you have done to me has affected me in every aspect of my life,” he told Wright.

“School, sports, relationships with family, my partner, and friends … mental health, physical health have all been affected.

“It wasn’t my choice. I didn’t ask for this.

“I still have my down days now and then … and to this day, there are things that I haven’t told anyone about.

“They will haunt me probably for the rest of my life.”

‘I will forever hate you’

Victim B was barely a teenager when he met Wright.

The pair got on well as they had a shared interest.

“It turns out, Glen just wanted to use and abuse me.

“I had big dreams … but Glen, you ripped the love and trust out of me.

“I hate my life and have pushed everyone away … I don’t know how to deal with emotions and turn to violence.

“I will forever hate you.”

The boy’s mother chose to call Wright “nothing”.

“Because that’s all that you are,” she said.

Wright took the victim’s “innocence and the brightness of their lives away”.

“Your disgusting actions are beyond comprehension … you are a sheep in wolf’s clothing.”

Offending ‘planned and premeditated’

Crown solicitor Mark Sturm said the harm to the victims was profound.

“It was apparent in the trial itself, and it’s apparent now,” he said.

Defence counsel Tom Sutcliffe said, notwithstanding the offending, Wright had been a relatively productive member of the community and “contributed greatly to the lives of others as well”.

Wright denied grooming the boys and Sutcliffe said there was no premeditation involved, but Judge Kim Saunders didn’t agree.

“Doing something over and over and over again is planned, it’s premeditated.

“Your offending … occurred over a number of years, and the repetitive nature and range of sexual offending demonstrates very clearly your planning and premeditation.

“You showed pornographic material to all three … and your use of pornography was likely to make them more comfortable around you and more receptive to sexual conduct.

“All of them were vulnerable.

“Some might say you chose your victims well,” she said.

Judge Saunders said there was insurmountable harm done to the victims.

“My sincere hope for the victims is that while they will never forget what you did to them … they will not let your offending limit the choices that they can and do make in life.”

Judge Saunders said while Wright still denied what he’d done, the jury believed the victims.

As Wright hadn’t expressed any remorse, the only credit available was for previous good character.

“But, I have to balance what is said about you against the fact that your offending occurred against these three boys.”

The judge said Wright managed to get away with his offending, under the guise of a “hard-working, outstanding member of the community for so long, because sadly people do not see what they do not know to look for”.

“You used these boys for your own sexual gratification.

“When I consider the scale of your offending … I do not think any discount should be available to you for any good character.”

Taking into account his overall culpability and what he’d put the victims through, Judge Saunders jailed Wright for 16 years.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.