Latest news with #Paraire
NZ Herald
16-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Auckland pimp Wiparera Paraire jailed for exploiting 14yo in sex trafficking case
'The victim was vulnerable and she trusted you,' he said of the exploitation. 'Act cute' The agreed summary of facts for the case states the girl was 14 for most of the time the two illegally dated, between April 2023 and January 2024. Early on, police made it explicitly clear to the defendant that she was underage. Officers had contacted Paraire after the girl ran away from home in May 2023. 'Despite this, their relationship continued,' authorities noted. Child sex trafficker Wiparera Paraire appears for sentencing at Auckland High Court. Photo / Jason Dorday As it continued, he also began to serve as the girl's pimp – encouraging her to find sex work with other adult males. 'Additionally, throughout their relationship, Mr Paraire entered into an agreement with [the child] where she would recruit her friends, also aged under 16, to prostitute themselves,' court documents state. Under the agreement, the child was to serve as Paraire's lieutenant in the ring – supervising her recruits but continuing to report to him as they both took a cut of the profits. 'As part of this effort to recruit [her] friends, Mr Paraire took steps to groom one of them,' police noted. Authorities were able to piece together many of Paraire's crimes thanks to social media. The two exchanged voluminous messages via Snapchat. 'Where are you, I have work for you tonight someone's been calling,' Paraire wrote on July 1 that year after the girl was admitted to North Shore Hospital to be assessed by the mental health team. 'dw [don't worry] you'll b paid,' he assured her on another occasion after telling her to be ready to travel somewhere for work. He gave advice on how to flirt with men and 'act cute' while getting clients 'as fkd up as possible'. 'Ayy ata girl,' he responded on another occasion after the child reported being at an Auckland Central hotel room with someone who had paid her. He then gave her tips on how to pickpocket the man. In another Snapchat exchange, the girl offered up a 16-year-old friend as a fresh recruit, sending Paraire a nude photo of the friend as well as screenshots of the other girl's Snapchat profile. 'just tell her that you have this guy that will help her make money if she's down,' he responded. 'You just gotta make it sound convincing so they don't fk round n shi you feel me.' 'Manipulative and exploitive' Paraire faced up to 14 years' imprisonment today for one count each of dealing in a person under 18 for sexual exploitation, agreeing to deal with a person under 18 for sexual exploitation and making an objectionable publication. A fourth charge, sexual conduct with a young person, carried a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment. It is believed to be the first time the agreeing to deal with a young person charge has been prosecuted, the judge noted. Paraire told report writers prior to sentencing that he had lived on the streets since childhood and befriended sex workers after his mother dropped him off at a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership, told him to pick a new name and abandoned him there. But his story changed significantly as he repeated it to various people in the justice system, including whether he was aged 9 or 10. Police offered an affidavit noting that there were about 50 interactions with Paraire when he was between the ages of 12 and 15 and there was never an indication he was homeless. Justice van Bohemen said the accounts were too untrustworthy to give credence, but he accepted Paraire's childhood appeared to be traumatic regardless – marred by violence, his mother's mental health issues and an introduction to drugs by age 11. Crown prosecutor Henry Steele. Photo / File Prosecutor Henry Steele sought a starting point for all four charges of eight years' imprisonment while defence lawyer Rasyad Ismail advocated for a five-year starting point. The judge allowed a starting point of six years, agreeing with the defence that there were many aspects of the case that raised suspicion but couldn't be considered because they weren't made clear in the agreed summary of facts. None of the child victims agreed to participate in the investigation and there was no trial, so the summary is vital, he said. Paraire may very well have groomed the victim for the entire 10 months they knew each other, but it's not clear there was that level of premeditation, he explained. Likewise, it is not proven that he had more than one sexual interaction with the child or that he encouraged her to have penetrative sex with customers, he said. Justice Gerard van Bohemen oversaw the hearing. Photo / Jason Dorday The defence described the offending as unsophisticated and not characteristic of the worst cases in which child victims were intimidated or pressured into prostitution. The judge agreed but emphasised the offending was still 'manipulative and exploitive'. He ordered an end sentence of four years and six months' imprisonment, after allowing 22% in discounts for Paraire's guilty pleas and traumatic background. 'Like she wasn't human' The teen, who was later taken into Oranga Tamariki care, did not attend today's hearing. Neither did her mother, who described in her victim impact statement having never felt so desperate and helpless as after her daughter met Paraire. 'You treated her like she wasn't even human,' she wrote in the statement, which was read aloud in court by prosecutor Sam Meyerhoff. 'You made her walk into danger night after night. Every day I watched her slip further away ...' Child sex trafficker Wiparera Paraire appears for sentencing. Photo / Jason Dorday The child's trauma led to trauma for her family as well. 'Rage became her language – violent, desperate, unflagging,' the mother said, adding that it wasn't her daughter's fault. 'She was never the villain. She was a child.' She fears her daughter will never be the same again, she said. 'Your actions have left an unrelenting spiral on our family,' the mother wrote. 'You violated trust, shattered innocence and carved a path of destruction through my daughter's life. 'You may one day walk free. We will never truly be free.' Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
08-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Auckland man admits prostituting 14-year-old girl
WARNING: This story includes content that some viewers may find disturbing An Auckland man has admitted prostituting a 14-year-old girl he was in an illegal relationship with, and recruiting her friends to join them. Wiparera Paraire, 26, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to four charges relating to sexually exploiting young people at the High Court in Auckland. He remains in custody until his sentencing in July. The agreed summary of facts laid out Paraire's offending. Paraire was in a relationship with the 14-year-old girl between April 2023 and January 2024, the document said. A month after the relationship began the girl had run away from home, and during the police search officers "explicitly" told Paraire of her age, it said. Despite that, he continued their relationship. Paraire found the girl prostitution work, ensured she was paid, and got her to recruit her friends - who were also underage - to prostitute themselves, the report stated. It said the 14-year-old's mother found messages from Paraire on her daughter's Snapchat account that were "of an overtly sexual nature" and began monitoring them to see what he was sending her. On one occasion, the girl had been admitted to hospital for assessment by a mental health team. Paraire said: "Where are you, I have work for you tonight someone's been calling". On another, they exchanged messages about a group of people she had claimed to have met up with, and who wanted sex, it said. Paraire instructed the girl to "try get em to get as fkd up as possible act cute don't get too fkd up". He encouraged her to flirt with them, and "make future business". The document showed a week later, the girl told Paraire she was at a hotel with somebody and had "made some money", and was waiting for him to go to sleep. "Ayy ata girl", Paraire replied. He encouraged her to pickpocket the man or distract him through sexual acts but she protested, saying she had already performed sex acts with him, and been paid. The document revealed the girl had also told Paraire her friend wanted to "be on board" and sent him a full body nude picture of her. "Just tell her that you have this guy that will help her make money if she's down," Paraire said. The messages indicated the pair would take a cut from whatever the friend earned, the document said. Paraire pleaded guilty to one charge each of dealing in a person under 18 for sexual exploitation, agreeing to deal in a person under 18 for sexual exploitation, knowingly making an objectionable publication and sexual conduct with a young person under 16. The first three charges carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail, and the final charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment. Where to get help: Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason. Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357. Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends. Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202. Samaritans: 0800 726 666. Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@ What's Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds. Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English. Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254. Healthline: 0800 611 116. Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155. OUTLine: 0800 688 5463. If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. Sexual Violence NZ Police. Victim Support 0800 842 846. Rape Crisis: 0800 88 33 00. Rape Prevention Education. Empowerment Trust. HELP (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655. Safe to talk: 0800 044 334. Tautoko Tāne Male Survivors Aotearoa. Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) 022 344 0496.
NZ Herald
07-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Wiparera Paraire pleads guilty in Auckland court to running underage prostitution ring
As the registrar read aloud another charge involving his entering into a commercial relationship with three girls for the purposes of prostitution, he replied: 'I wasn't made aware of all their names, but guilty.' The agreed summary of facts for the case states the girl was 14 for most of the time the two illegally dated, between April 2023 and January 2024. Early on, police made it explicitly clear to the defendant that she was underage. Officers had contacted Paraire after the girl ran away from home in May 2023. 'Despite this, their relationship continued,' authorities noted. As it continued, he also began to serve as the girl's pimp – encouraging her to find sex work with other adult males. 'Additionally, throughout their relationship, Mr Paraire entered into an agreement with [the child] where she would recruit her friends, also aged under 16, to prostitute themselves,' court documents state. Under the agreement, the child was to serve as Paraire's lieutenant in the ring – supervising her recruits but continuing to report to him as they both took a cut of the profits. 'As part of this effort to recruit [her] friends, Mr Paraire took steps to groom one of them,' police noted. Authorities were able to piece together many of Paraire's crimes thanks to social media. The two exchanged voluminous messages via Snapchat. The teen's mother began monitoring her daughter's messages in June 2023 after noticing overtly sexual messages between her daughter and the defendant. 'Where are you, I have work for you tonight someone's been calling,' Paraire wrote on July 1 that year after the girl was admitted to North Shore Hospital to be assessed by the mental health team. 'dw [don't worry] you'll b paid,' he assured her on another occasion after telling her to be ready to travel somewhere for work. He gave advice on how to flirt with men and 'act cute' while getting clients 'as fkd up as possible'. 'Ayy ata girl,' he responded on another occasion after the child reported being at an Auckland Central hotel room with someone who had paid her. He then gave her tips on how to pickpocket the man. In another Snapchat exchange, the girl offered up a 16-year-old friend as a fresh recruit, sending Paraire a nude photo of the friend as well as screenshots of the other girl's Snapchat profile. 'just tell her that you have this guy that will help her make money if she's down,' he responded. 'You just gotta make it sound convincing so they don't fk round n shi you feel me.' Paraire had been set to start a jury trial next week. Instead, he'll be sentenced in July. He now faces up to 14 years' imprisonment for one count each of dealing in a person under 18 for sexual exploitation, agreeing to deal with a person under 18 for sexual exploitation and making an objectionable publication. A fourth charge, sexual conduct with a young person, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.
