Source: Radio New Zealand
Keith Andrew Wicks-Cairns was sentenced at the High Court in Dunedin on 10 March 2026. RNZ / Tess Brunton
– This story discusses details of sexual violation.
A Dunedin sex offender who raped a student after breaking into her Cosy Dell flat has been sentenced to preventive detention, with a period of at least seven years in jail.
Keith Andrew Wicks-Cairns, 37, pleaded guilty to rape, sexual violation and burglary after attacking the woman who was asleep in bed in February last year.
In a victim impact statement read to the Dunedin High Court, the woman said the sexual assault had changed her life in ways she did not expect.
She used to feel confident about her future but was now overcome by anxiety, fear, a deep sense of shame and second-guessed herself.
“Some days I barely recognise myself,” she said.
The woman said she used to love living independently but now struggled to relax in her own home where she should feel safe.
She told the court that she would not let Wicks-Cairns’ cowardice dictate her life and was doing everything in her power to stop him offending again.
Her flatmate told the court she was also on edge after the attack in their home.
She felt disgusted and distressed about what happened and guilty that she woke to police in their home and her flatmate in distress.
She said she felt anxious and stressed in the place she used to feel safe, affecting almost every part of her life.
They bought security cameras and new locks but she still avoided being home alone.
She told the court her friend was strong and she was proud of her.
‘Dealing with the demons’
Justice Harland sentenced Wicks-Cairns to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of seven years and three months on Tuesday, saying it was necessary to protect others.
She acknowledged a letter he had written to the judge, in which he said prison was where he needed to be to ensure the safety of others.
“I know prison is where I deserve to be until I’ve dealt with the demons inside,” he said in the letter.
Justice Harland noted he has previous convictions for sex offences, saying Wicks-Cairns had shown little insight into his offending, and his compliance with prison release conditions was poor.
She acknowledged he had an extremely dysfunctional childhood, but said multiple opportunities and interventions to rehabilitate him had failed.
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said the woman had shown extraordinary strength and courage.
Wicks-Cairns’ offending was aggravated by the home invasion, the detention of the victim, her vulnerability, the violence, pre-meditation and scale of the violations, he said.
Wicks-Cairns was jailed for more than four years in 2013 following sex crimes against two children.
Smith said the victims were also asleep before those assaults.
The letter claiming that his offending was a wake-up call and he was willing to rehabilitate was not to be trusted, he said.
Wicks-Cairns’ was at very high risk of reoffending and had no real insight, remorse or empathy for the woman, rather self pity for getting caught, Smith said.
Wicks-Cairns’ lawyer Joshua Grainger said his client acknowledged the harm he had caused and the incredible impact his crime had on an innocent and undeserving person.
But he argued that his client was not beyond rehabilitation.
‘No-one is going to hear you’
Wicks-Cairns was captured on CCTV wearing dark clothes, a beanie and red shoes on 4 February.
The court heard he had driven around the student quarter in North Dunedin before parking on Queens Street and walking towards Cosy Dell Road.
He covered his face while approaching the woman’s flat, then broke in and went upstairs where she was asleep.
She woke to his hand across her mouth and Wicks-Cairns saying, “you are going to be quiet”.
She struggled, screamed and tried to protect herself but he grabbed her wrists and held her down, the court heard.
Wicks-Cairns told the woman “No-one is going to hear you” before raping and violating her, ignoring her pleas for him to stop.
Afterwards, he made her wash her hands before removing the bottom-fitted sheet from the bed to conceal his offending. He left threatening that he would come back if she told anyone what he had done.
Wicks-Cairns was caught on CCTV running from the flat carrying the sheet.
He told police he did not know what they were talking about when they interviewed him.
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Sexual Violence
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
