Child exploitation is rife around the planet. The New Zealand Herald and World Vision NZ are running a campaign to put a spotlight on the issue. / Video by Mike Scott
Wiparera Paraire pleaded guilty to four charges involving the exploitation of young people.
He ran a child prostitution ring, exploiting a 14-year-old girl and her friends.
Paraire faces up to 14 years’ imprisonment, with sentencing scheduled for July.
An Auckland man has admitted to having parlayed his illegal relationship with a 14-year-old girl into a child prostitution ring.
Wiparera Paraire, who turns 27 this month, can be named for the first time after having pleaded guilty this week to four charges involving the exploitation of young people.
He sat in a booth at Upper Hutt’s Rimutaka Prison yesterday as he appeared via audio-video feed before Justice Timothy Brewer in the High Court at Auckland.
“Guilty,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to cut off the courtroom registrar as she read aloud the details of one charge involving an objectionable video he made in 2023 of the 14-year-old. “Guilty, guilty, guilty.”
As the registrar read aloud another charge involving his entering into a commercial relationship with three girls for the purposes of prostitution, he replied: “I wasn’t made aware of all their names, but guilty.”
The agreed summary of facts for the case states the girl was 14 for most of the time the two illegally dated, between April 2023 and January 2024.
Early on, police made it explicitly clear to the defendant that she was underage. Officers had contacted Paraire after the girl ran away from home in May 2023.
Justice Timothy Brewer heard Waiparera Paraire plead guilty to exploiting underage girls. Photo / Michael Craig
“Despite this, their relationship continued,” authorities noted.
As it continued, he also began to serve as the girl’s pimp – encouraging her to find sex work with other adult males.
“Additionally, throughout their relationship, Mr Paraire entered into an agreement with [the child] where she would recruit her friends, also aged under 16, to prostitute themselves,” court documents state.
Under the agreement, the child was to serve as Paraire’s lieutenant in the ring – supervising her recruits but continuing to report to him as they both took a cut of the profits.
“As part of this effort to recruit [her] friends, Mr Paraire took steps to groom one of them,” police noted.
Authorities were able to piece together many of Paraire’s crimes thanks to social media. The two exchanged voluminous messages via Snapchat.
“Where are you, I have work for you tonight someone’s been calling,” Paraire wrote on July 1 that year after the girl was admitted to North Shore Hospital to be assessed by the mental health team.
“dw [don’t worry] you’ll b paid,” he assured her on another occasion after telling her to be ready to travel somewhere for work.
He gave advice on how to flirt with men and “act cute” while getting clients “as fkd up as possible”.
“Ayy ata girl,” he responded on another occasion after the child reported being at an Auckland Central hotel room with someone who had paid her. He then gave her tips on how to pickpocket the man.
In another Snapchat exchange, the girl offered up a 16-year-old friend as a fresh recruit, sending Paraire a nude photo of the friend as well as screenshots of the other girl’s Snapchat profile.
“just tell her that you have this guy that will help her make money if she’s down,” he responded. “You just gotta make it sound convincing so they don’t fk round n shi you feel me.”
Paraire had been set to start a jury trial next week. Instead, he’ll be sentenced in July.
He now faces up to 14 years’ imprisonment for one count each of dealing in a person under 18 for sexual exploitation, agreeing to deal with a person under 18 for sexual exploitation and making an objectionable publication. A fourth charge, sexual conduct with a young person, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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