Millionaire drug addict Mark Lyon can be revealed as the 59-year-old businessman convicted of a range of drug and sex offences last year, including offences against girls as young as 14.
Name suppression lapsed at 5pm today, exposing Lyon as using methamphetamine to exploit sex acts from girls – and carrying out a prolonged punishment assault against a woman shackled in a “dungeon”.
The woman’s agony through the sexual assault was such she begged Lyon to rape her so it would be over.
Lyon was sentenced to 15 years in jail in December in the High Court at Auckland with a minimum of eight years to be served before a parole hearing. He stood trial with a woman aged 20 who was also found guilty on charges of getting Lyon young girls for his sexual gratification.
The prison sentence brings to an end the millionaire property developer’s public fall from grace. He went from being one of the city’s most insightful businessmen to someone immersed in drug culture and preyed on by gang members.
The charges came after a police raid on a 29-apartment building owned by Lyon in Eden Terrace which he used to house associates and friends immersed in the same lifestyle.
Police had unpicked the case after Lyon’s co-accused – conflicted over her role – told a youth aid officer Lyon was using her to get young girls for sex.
Months of investigation pinpointed Lyon’s base and the activities, followed by extensive work to track down victims who would testify.
The father of one of the victims aged 14 at the time of the assault told the Herald Lyon was “evil”.
“He’s had so many chances from the judiciary in the past. He’s gone off into a world of and drugs and firearms and gangs.
“This man has caused so much damage to people in New Zealand because of his support for and dealings with methamphetamine.”
He said his daughter was “traumatised” by the experience. Now aged 18, the time since had been disrupted by rehabilitation from drug abuse and the court case.
“I still see her as my baby girl, as an innocent.”
He praised Detective Sergeant Andrew Saunders for his leadership of the investigation, saying Lyon would have continued if police had not uncovered his sordid base of operations.
“I don’t believe my anger for this person will ever go. Hopefully he won’t last long (in prison) and someone will get him.”
Mr Saunders said the woman convicted alongside Lyon was “effectively his pimp”. She would target young girls with methamphetamine addictions, bringing them to Lyon for him to exploit.
He said the woman who had been shackled and abused by Lyon had come to court as a hostile witness.
Once in the witness box, though, she couldn’t stop herself from detailing her experience.
“I’ve never heard anyone give evidence like that. It was raw and brutal. It just all came out.”
On Lyon, he said: “The guy’s a walking billboard for why you shouldn’t do drugs.”
Source:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11401656
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