Earlier this year, Shang, who moved to New Zealand in 2020, pleaded guilty to 52 charges, 48 of which were for sexual violation.
The remaining charges were two counts of committing indecent acts on a young person, making objectionable material, and possessing it.
Judge Gibson said 22 of the charges were representative, meaning each charge relates to multiple instances of offending.
According to the agreed summary of facts, Shang “systematically” groomed both of his victims, who were aged between 11 and 15 at the time.
He gained their families’ trust under the guise of being a “respected” member of the Chinese community.
“Almost all of the sexual encounters … were intentionally recorded and saved on to an external storage device.”
The summary of facts sets out graphic details of the abuse Shang inflicted on the children across multiple years.
Shang was trusted to be alone with his victims and have them stay in his home.
On one occasion, he played a popular Chinese lullaby while he filmed himself sexually abusing a boy as he slept.
He also paid one of the victims in cash after the abuse, telling him to “keep quiet”.
Detective Inspector Ryan Cain said the investigation into Shang was sparked by one of his victims coming forward.
From there police were able to uncover the full extent of Shang’s offending and identify a second victim.
Cain said police were pleased justice had been delivered and acknowledged the initial victim for his courage in alerting police.
“His strength and determination have been remarkable, and we hope this sentence brings some sense of peace, along with reassurance that speaking up was worthwhile in holding the offender to account.”
Sentencing judge set starting point of 19 years in prison
Judge Gibson set a sentence starting point of 19 years of imprisonment.
Prosecutor Helen Brown said the defence’s request for a 75% discount was too much.
“In my submission, there have been no attempts at rehabilitation.”
Brown said that although there was some remorse expressed in Shang’s submissions to the court, it was “entirely absent” when he spoke to his pre-sentence report writer.
Brown also argued that Shang should not receive a sentence discount just because he wasn’t a native English speaker, and that he would not be totally isolated in prison.
“There are Mandarin-speaking prisoners in the jails,” Judge Gibson added.
While Shang alleged he had experienced sexual abuse as a child, Brown said the report provided to the court did not corroborate this claim.
Shang had also not made his family and friends aware of the “full scope” of his offending.
Brown asked Judge Gibson to impose a minimum jail term that Shang must serve to protect the public.
“Mr Shang poses a very high risk,” she said.
A normal non-parole period, usually one-third of the prison term, would not be sufficient to protect the community, Brown submitted.
Defence lawyer claims Shang would be lonely in prison
Shang’s lawyer, David Jones, KC, said his client’s family may not be aware of the abuse he claimed to have experienced because it was private.
Jones said the victims’ families had agreed to accept a payment from Shang of $20,000, split equally between both victims.
The Crown confirmed this was the case, but said the families were concerned the donations could be seen as Shang paying for a lower sentence.
Jones submitted that language was an issue for his client, who he said had a reasonable grasp of English, but still, he did not speak to his client unless a translator was present.
It was not just language issues he would face in prison, Jones said.
Shang’s domestic situation was “parlous” and his client was lonely.
Judge Gibson questioned whether Shang would face the same issues of loneliness in the outside world.
Jones said being a lonely person in prison was different to being a lonely person outside the wire.
In prison, he would not have any visitors; on the outside, he could make adult friends, Jones said.
He believed the Crown had adopted a “disturbingly cynical” approach regarding Shang’s historic abuse allegation, the view that if it wasn’t corroborated, it didn’t happen.
Shang, Jones said, believed his experience as a child shaped how he offended as an adult.
A minimum term of imprisonment shouldn’t be ordered, because the Parole Board would only let someone out once they had been rehabilitated, he said.
‘Depraved and extremely serious’
In sentencing Shang, Judge Gibson said he had “systematically groomed” the victims and ingratiated himself in their families.
“Your offending was depraved and extremely serious, which is why a starting point of 19 years was adopted by me.”
He said the abuse of trust in both situations was egregious and gross.
“What you’ve done to those victims and their families will be with them for a long period of time.
“Its clear that both they and their families are deeply affected by your actions.”
Judge Gibson said the pre-sentence report noted that Shang wanted to talk more about his own alleged experiences as a child than the impact of his abuse on the two boys.
Although Shang had made “frequent” expressions of remorse to the psychologist, nothing further had happened to demonstrate he was remorseful.
Judge Gibson therefore declined any additional discount for remorse.
While Jones had argued Shang should be granted a sentence discount for previous good character, Judge Gibson disagreed, given the large number of charges.
“You have a clear and entrenched interest in sexual activity with children, in my view, not withstanding you have lived a good part of your adult life without acquiring any convictions, it would not be appropriate.”
Regarding Shang’s own sex abuse claims, the judge said they were all self-reported, and he was not prepared to provide a discount for them.
“Somewhat reluctantly”, Judge Gibson did grant a 5% sentence reduction for Shang’s $20,000 payment offer to the victims.
Because Shang could understand and converse in English, and there were other Mandarin-speaking prisoners in Auckland prisons, no discount was given for the difficulties he may face in jail.
He was granted a 25% sentence reduction for his guilty plea.
This led to a final prison sentence of 13 years and three months.
Judge Gibson also imposed a minimum non-parole period of half the total sentence for Shang’s “serious predatory offending”.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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