Police say more victims a possibility

An Invercargill man has been sentenced to eight years and 11 months’ jail for historic sexual offending and police believe there could be more victims throughout the South Island.

Kenneth Murray Linwood was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Monday, after admitting 17 charges, mostly dating back to Invercargill in the 1980s against three female victims.

Linwood lost his interim name suppression at the sentencing which was conducted by videolink with Invercargill.

He was in a wheelchair in the dock for the sentencing, having been transferred to prison in Christchurch ahead of sentencing because of health issues.

The charges, which he had admitted, included rape of a child, rape of a teenager, rape of a woman, injuring with reckless disregard for safety, kidnapping, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and doing an indecent act.

After jailing Linwood, Judge Jim Large told the two women who were looking in on the sentencing by video link: ‘‘I hope you can move on. It has been an unhappy chapter to get to this point. Please close the book and move on, with the support that you currently have. Be your own person.’’

He reduced the sentence because of Linwood’s guilty pleas and made a further reduction for his health and other issues. The judge ordered that Linwood be placed on the register of child sex offenders.

He noted the contents of a cultural report that had been prepared on Linwood before sentencing which spoke of a normalisation of violence with beatings during his upbringing.

One of the victims was a young woman who had lost her way and ended up at the ‘‘pad’’ in Invercargill. She had been injured in the attack and said in her victim impact statement that after 26 years she still had a highpitched ringing in her ears, and a ‘‘boxer’s nose’’. She still had trouble sleeping.

Speaking after the sentencing, one of the victims said Linwood did not have his gang to protect him now.

‘‘I got justice yesterday, now he can f... off and die.’’

She believed there could be more victims, and encouraged them to come forward.

Police agreed, and in a statement released yesterday, detective Graeme King said he believed there could be more of Linwood’s victims out there, and urged them to come forward.

‘‘Based on inquiries carried out as part of the prosecution we believe there could be more victims from across the South Island.’’