Sentencing — rape — R v AM [2010] NZLR 750 — three strikes warning. The defendant appeared for sentencing having been found guilty of rape. The defendant was convicted of raping a young woman under 18 years of age at a party they were both attending. The victim became very intoxicated and the defendant took her to bed, where he raped her. The victim drifted in and out of consciousness and the defendant, when asked who he was by the victim, said he was another party attendee. The defendant would continue to implicate the other man from the party to police in the days following. DNA testing exonerated the other party-goer and implicated the defendant. He subsequently changed his story to that of a consensual sexual encounter. In reaching a starting point, the Judge considered R v AM and determined it to be band 2 offending. The Judge identified the aggravating features of the offending to be the effect the offending had on the victim, the lack of protection and the risks that exposed her to, the abuse of trust and vulnerability of the victim, and the planning behind the offending. The Judge determined a starting point of eight years' imprisonment, but reduced the sentence to seven years and eight months' due to the defendant's relative youth. The defendant also received a three strikes warning.