A man has been jailed for almost 10 years after the woman he raped tracked him down and secured the necessary evidence herself.
Nyal Heke was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison for the violent attack, which was committed while he was on parole, the Otago Daily Times reports.
He had followed a woman through Dunedin at 5am in the morning, propositioning her several times before sexually assaulting her in a bushed walkway.
The victim had realised after speaking to police there was little likelihood of any DNA being found due to the fact she had showered after the attack. So she took matters into her own hands and tracked Heke down, getting his name from people who had seen him in the area the night she was attacked.
She contacted him via Facebook, claiming not to have spoken to the police and asking why he raped her and demanding an apology.
She wasn't expecting a reply, but it took Heke less than nine hours to come clean.
"I'm really sorry I won't ever do [that] again," Heke responded.
The woman showed the message to police and a jury quickly found Heke guilty of two counts of rape. Judge Michael Crosbie imposed a minimum non-parole period of 50 percent for "community protection and deterrence", according to the Otago Daily Times.
Heke had blamed his actions on a poor upbringing and lack of experience approaching women.
"No means no, Mr Heke," said Judge Crosbie.
"She was entitled to feel safe and you preyed on her."
Newshub.
