A 'classic groomer” who profiled and abused troubled young boys at alcohol fuelled gatherings he held at his home as far back as 1997 has been jailed – for the second time – after being found guilty of a string of child sex offences.

Sean Smale, 52, was sentenced to eight years and 11 months imprisonment at Rotorua District Court on Thursday after being found guilty in March of six charges he groomed and abused young boys.

It took a jury of six men and six women just 55 minutes to find Smale unanimously guilty of child sex offences.

Smale was found guilty, and jailed, for many of the same offences back in 2019 – only to be freed after successfully appealing his convictions.

After his original trial, which included one less victim and fewer offences, he was jailed for nine years.

One of his victims read an emotional victim impact statement ahead of sentencing, telling the court he had his innocence 'taken from me”.

'That plays a lot on my mind. . . led me to places I don't wish on anyone,” he said.

'I feel so ashamed I was so afraid to tell anyone, especially my mum.”

He said he felt he was finally getting his self-respect back, and hoped in coming forward he had stopped 'further offending against innocent souls”.

Crown prosecutor Anna McConachy​ told the court Smale had shown no acceptance of guilt.

'He maintains his innocence,” she said.

Smale's lawyer said he was a man of good character, 'up until these events occurred”.

That was swiftly dismissed by Judge Tony Snell.

'He doesn't have good character as he's been offending for six or seven years against young boys,” he said.

Snell said Smale's offending had 'damaged lives for years and years and years”.

He described Smale's offending as 'highly predatory” and revealed what he said was a 'telling moment” at trial.

'You can provide no sensible explanation for why you let young boys get naked,” he said.

'Offering accommodation, alcohol, cigarettes. . . you got them drunk and intoxicated then exploited them as opportunities arose.”

He also said Smale 'probably thought you'd get away with it for many years”.

He also praised the courage of Smale's victims for coming forward, noting the abuse 'clearly has taken a massive toll”.

In a ruling that was suppressed until the conclusion of his retrial, Smale successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal that he had suffered a miscarriage of justice, 'primarily on an allegation that trial counsel failed to put his chosen defence”.

It can also now be revealed Smale faced a 2002 charge he had abused a child in Fiji, later withdrawn before reaching trial as prosecutors focused on the local charges they were sure they could prove.

Stuff can also now reveal that reporting of his original trial led to a third victim coming forward and reporting their abuse to police.

‘Gatherings' of a 32-year-old with 12 year-olds

Both trials centred on the ‘gatherings' Smale hosted at his Rotorua home, and included admissions from Smale himself, given across a number of recorded police interviews, of the culture of drinking, drug taking and nudity he created.

The boys at his house were aged around 12, while he was 32 years old at the time.

In her closing trial address McConachy​​ said Smale "engaged in classic grooming behaviour".

'In what world is it appropriate for a man his age to be hosting such gatherings every weekend, for young boys to be inebriated... It's sinister.”

She also pointed to his admission to police he would have as many as six young boys at his house over the weekend because they were "good company".

'Good company? Ladies and gentlemen, they were 12.”

In one police interview Smale said RTDs were the drink of choice, and he supplied the alcohol as 'they wouldn't have been able to purchase [it]”.

'Not huge amounts of alcohol, couldn't afford huge amounts.”

In video of a September 2017 police interview, the jury saw Detective Jonathon​​ Brady ask Smale about allegations he had abused a then 12-year-old.

Smale told Brady boys would visit and drink alcohol, and sometimes run around with their clothes off.

None of this behaviour was 'weird or unusual”, he claimed.

He also admitted to occasionally sharing a bed with one child, claiming it 'wasn't weird, strange or uncomfortable”.

'I mean if it was a strange kid I didn't know, yeah maybe, but I knew [him] by then,” Smale said.

Toll on victims

Through a mixture of in person testimony and video recorded interviews it was also clear the toll Smale's offending had taken on his victims.

One victim described how memories of his abuse came flooding back when he read Stuff's reporting on his 2019 trial.

”It shattered what I was,” he said.

'I read it and the whole reference of it made a lot more sense to my life, what he did to me. . . I remember everything he did to me.”

Defence arguments were summed up as Smale's victims 'lying in slightly different ways for slightly different reasons”.

Much was also made of continued contact after the abuse between Smale and two of his victims, though in his closing remarks Judge Tony Snell warned the jury about that, and the delay in reporting the abuse.

'There is no classic or typical response to sexual abuse,” he said.

'No standard response by someone who has been sexually abused towards their abuser.”

-Benn Bathgtae/Stuff.