23 Oct 2015

Man pleads guilty to multiple sex attacks

5:25 pm on 23 October 2015

A Palmerston North man who pleaded guilty to 24 offences including several sex attacks has been sentenced to preventive detention and will not be able to apply for parole for eight years.

Francis Keefe, 34, had been convicted of rape, attempted rape, unlawful sexual connection, indecent assault and burglary.

He broke into the Palmerston North homes of young women before attacking them, and Detective Sergeant Johnny Oram said it was a relief to finally arrest him after a two-year operation.

"His offending was certainly increasing in frequency and in violence, and it was good he was stopped when he was," he said.

"The result of the sentence shows that the court was taking it as seriously as it needed to be."

A number of the victims were at the sentencing, and Mr Oram said he hoped this would give them some closure.