A serial rapist who was already serving a rare sentence of preventative detention when he was convicted earlier his year of violent sexual assaults on multiple fellow inmates has been handed 11 more indeterminate terms.

Larry Gordon Cant, 54, who also uses the name Lawrence Whitelaws, appeared in the High Court at Auckland today for sentencing via an audio-video feed from prison.

He obscured the camera so he couldn’t be seen and was warned by Justice Paul Davison several times that he would be disconnected and sentenced in absentia if he continued interrupting the judge and the men delivering victim impact statements. Cant, who fired his latest lawyer prior to the hearing, initially refused to answer when asked if he was on the line - only making his presence known when he began shouting insults at court staff.

Cant was found guilty in April, following a weeks-long judge-alone trial, of 11 counts of unlawful sexual connection and two counts of threatening to cause grievous bodily harm. The judge heard from three men and two transgender women who recounted being raped in their cells in separate incidents dating back over three decades.

His first victim, who appeared in court today via another audio-video feed to read aloud his victim impact statement, had never been in prison before and had been there only five days when Cant - his cellmate - preyed upon him in 1991.

 “Larry, when you offended against me, you made me feel worthless and helpless because you took advantage of me,” the man said. “I was naive and scared. Your actions left me angry and bitter.

“I felt used and abused for your selfish gratification. This left me after wishing that I was dead.”

A second man who appeared in court in person said he has tried in vain to drink away the anger and hurt Cant caused.

“I used to be outgoing in the past, but my personality has changed,” the man said. “It’s just not easy for me to trust new people and accept them into my life.”

Cant interrupted both men, shouting allegations about why they had been sent to prison and seeming to insinuate that he was less culpable because his victims had previously victimised others.

Victim impact statements from three others were submitted to the judge but not read aloud in court.

In seeking the latest preventative detention sentences, Crown prosecutor Brett Tantrum pointed out that Cant had already received the rare sentence in 2010 after attacking a woman in Auckland just weeks after he had been released from prison on another charge. A jury found him guilty of assault with intent to commit sexual violation.

Preventative detention, in which there is no set end date for the sentence, is reserved for repeat offenders deemed to be a significant and ongoing risk to the community of violent or sexual crimes. Cant was ordered today to serve a minimum period of imprisonment of 12 years before he can begin lobbying the Parole Board for release. If he is eventually released, he will continue to be managed by Corrections and could be returned to custody.

The offences for which he was sentenced today occurred in 1991, 2006 and 2018, and more than one involved homemade prison knives.

After raping the first victim, he warned the cellmate not to tell anyone.

“You told [him] that he could wake up with his throat cut or his wrist slit,” the judge noted today.

The next victim in 2006 said repeatedly that he didn’t want to engage in the act but Cant held a shank and threatened to cut the man’s throat if he screamed.

His 2018 victims included three people in the prison’s special needs unit: a man described as having significant cognitive difficulties and two transgender women who were serving time in the men’s prison.

He befriended one of the women and became jealous, throwing hot water on another inmate who she was interested in, the judge said.

“You know I love you,” Cant was alleged to have told the fellow prisoner moments before he raped her.

“There was undeniably a degree of planning and premeditation,” the judge said, noting that on more than one occasion Cant had asked to move his cell closer to the victims.

“Your victims were vulnerable. They could not escape you. You were the older and more experienced inmate in each case.”

At one point, Cant interrupted Justice Davison to point out that he was already being held in maximum security. He suggested that the judge needed a better understanding of prison life before evaluating the charges.

“Maybe you should spend some time here yourself,” he said, before adding: “Go on, do what you want to do. I don’t really care.”

Justice Davison went on to describe the offending as significant in scale.

“You’ve subjected five different complainants to indignities,” he said.

He also outlined Cant’s significant criminal history, which started with the Youth Court at age 15 in 1983 and went on to include 124 convictions prior to the current ones. The record includes 28 prior violent offences, five escapes from custody and two prior sexual offences, including sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl.

A former prison chaplain who befriended Cant and resigned so as not to have a conflict of interest spoke on the prisoner’s behalf today.

Peter Willcox asked the judge to give a sentence that would be “holistic”, allowing Cant to seek treatment if he ever decides to do so. Preventative detention wouldn’t achieve that, he said.

“A court which places all the blame for their trauma on a single individual at the end of a long line of previous abuse makes a farce of the victim’s life experience,” Willcox said in a written submission to the court. “They need to see that the position in life they currently find themselves in is not the fault of a single individual but the combination of previous abusers and their life choices.

“They need to recognise that the life where they were born into was one of drawing a bad outcome in the lottery of life.”

It was inevitable given Cant’s history, his advocate said, that he would go on to have anti-social behaviour of his own.

The judge acknowledged “the acutely traumatic nature” of Cant’s childhood, which included growing up with a physically abusive father and a mother who had to be hospitalised several times due to mental health difficulties. He was sent into state care when he was 9 years old and had a rough go of it, Davison said.

Had Cant not received a preventative detention sentence, the judge said he would have ordered a 17-year term, taking into account a 10 per cent discount for his upbringing. But two separate reports have assessed him as likely to reoffend, making a finite term risky to the public, the judge said.

 “You have not engaged in treatment in over 20 years,” the judge said, adding that records show Cant has been offered treatment on numerous occasions dating back to 1992.

While the risk of sexual reoffending generally declines with age, particularly after about 60 years old, that is a generalisation, the judge said. Making sure Cant remains in prison until his mid-60s, if not longer, provides the best protection for the public, he decided.

All of the sentences will be served concurrently.

MALE SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS

Where to get help:

If it’s an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

• If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talkon 0800 044 334 or text 4334. (available 24/7)
• Male Survivors Aotearoaoffers a range of confidential support at centres across New Zealand - find your closest one here.
• Mosaic - Tiaki Tangata: 0800 94 22 94 (available 11am-8pm)
• Alternatively contact your local police station - click herefor a list.

If you have been abused, remember it’s not your fault.