R v Bruce - [2025] NZHC 3280

Sentencing of Myles Bruce for 31 charges of sexual and violence related offending. Convictions entered following a Judge-alone trial earlier in the year. Offending occurred against five former partners, over a 15-year period. 

The offending involved multiple incidents of sexual violence including multiple rapes of four of the victims, multiple threats to kill, and physical violence. Mr Bruce would berate, verbally abuse, and pester the victims until they were left with no other choice but to submit to his demands. 

The Court imposed a sentence of 19 years' imprisonment for all the offending with a minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years. On the basis of psychologists reports before the Court, Mr Bruce's risk of further offending is assessed as high. This is exacerbated by his refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing. By a fine margin, the Court declined a sentence of preventive detention on the basis that the lengthy finite sentence, with the possibility of an extended supervision order for a further I0 years, provided adequate protection for future intimate partners.