Thu 16 Mar 2017 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A Dunedin transgender woman has been sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison following a violent and premeditated attack on a young man and the indecent assault of two of her former flatmates. After watching a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Alex Aleti Seu, 30, followed her unnamed victim, who was intoxicated, north from the Octagon on June 25 and dragged him into a dark alleyway near the corner of George and Albany Streets. She threw him against a brick wall and performed sexual acts on him. She further pursued the victim into the grounds of a nearby church where the attack continued. The Otago Daily Times reports that evidence was presented in court that Seu had apparently considered the encounter to be consensual until she read the victim impact statement. A pre-sentencing report considered her to be at high risk of reoffending. She pleaded guilty in January. The sentencing judge noted that the victim suffered physical, including rectal, injuries and psychological distress which "has had a major impact on his life." He also said the attack showed a “high-degree of premeditation, determination and violence'' The indecent assaults on Seu's ex-flatmates occurred two months after the initial attack and after she had been arrested for that attack. She will not be eligible for parole until 2020 at the earliest. [Editor's note 21/3/17: There has been some questioning as to which pronoun is appropriate to Alex Seu. GayNZ.com Daily News was unable to be in the Dunedin court to cover this case first-hand but we are reliably advised that throughout the case Seu was referred to by officers of the court, her own lawyer and in formal court documents as "he." This may have been based on her gender as identified on her birth certificate. However it was also clear that she, to a considerable degree, identifies as a transgender woman. Seu is of Samoan descent and so the likelihood of fa'afafine identity was also taken into account in writing this news item. With these considerations in mind and taking into account the way Seu presented in court GayNZ.com Daily News has chosen to use the pronoun "she."]