Sentencing — rape — sexual conduct with a young person under 16 — assault with a weapon — assault on a child — cultural report — R v AM [2010] NZCA 114 — Crimes Act 1961, s 59 — Parole Act 2002. The defendant appeared for sentence after being found guilty of one charge of rape, one of sexual conduct with a person under the age of 16, one of assault with a weapon, and five of assault on a child (two of these latter charges being representative). The victims of the offending were his children. The sexual offending occurred one night when the defendant's daughter was staying at his house after a fight with her mother. The assaults on the sons occurred over a four year period. The defendant denied the sexual offending. He admitted hitting his sons but argued that he did so for purposes allowed by s 59 of the Crimes Act. The jury had rejected this explanation. Aggravating features of the offending were breach of trust, vulnerable victim, planning and premeditation, and in the case of the assaults, repeated behaviour inflicted on multiple victims. The sexual offending had had a major impact on his daughter. The Court found that the sexual offending fell towards the bottom end of band 2 of R v AM, and set a start point of eight years' imprisonment for these charges. This was then uplifted by 20 months for the assault charges, and an extra four months for the defendant's previous violence convictions. The defendant earned a six-month discount for remorse for the assaults (he denied the sexual offending), and a five-month discount for time spent on bail. The Court applied a further seven-month discount for factors identified in the defendant's cultural report, bringing the sentence to eight and a half years, with a minimum period of imprisonment of 50 percent. The defendant was also added to the Child Sex Offender Register. Judgment Date: 24 September 2018. ***Note: names have been changed to meet legal requirements.***