Robert Mark Purchase, a 49-year-old Auckland man with a history of serious criminal offenses, appeared in the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to charges including abduction for the purpose of sexual connection, injuring with intent, and strangulation. The case involves an incident from March this year in a remote area of coastal West Auckland.
Purchase’s most recent offense involved impersonating an Uber driver. The victim, a woman who had been out with friends on Karangahape Road in central Auckland, had awaited a ride ordered through the Uber app. When the official ride was cancelled, neither she nor her friends realized the driver who stopped was not legitimate. Purchase, driving a white Toyota Vitz, offered a ride and falsely allowed the woman to believe he was her Uber driver. After taking one friend home in Mt Wellington, he then abducted the second woman without her consent and transported her away from the area.
According to court documents, the victim’s recollection of the events is fragmented but includes being assaulted after vomiting in the car, followed by being forcibly pinned to the ground, punched, strangled, and restrained with cable ties. The woman was left severely bruised with damage to her eye, wearing torn clothing and missing shoes. She managed to escape and sought help from a passerby. Police later found Purchase’s DNA on the victim’s undergarments and on the cable ties used to bind her.
When questioned by police, Purchase denied sexual assault and strangulation but admitted to physical assault and restraining the woman, claiming his actions were provoked by her behavior. He stated that he believed he had dropped off both women and only realized the victim was unconscious in the back seat later. Purchase also alleged the woman gave him directions to the remote location. Court documents, however, characterize his conduct as abduction with the intention of sexual connection.
This latest case bears disturbing parallels to an earlier conviction in the United States. In 2003, Purchase was sentenced to 25 years in a Florida prison for armed kidnapping and carjacking involving another woman whom he abducted during a 1700-kilometer journey. That victim reported being bound, gagged, and sexually assaulted multiple times during the ordeal. Purchase was released on parole and returned to New Zealand in 2023.
Prior to the March 2024 offense, Purchase had given interviews presenting himself as reformed and honest, emphasizing a 1997 prison term while omitting his lengthy incarceration in the U.S. He has since acknowledged misleading the media about his criminal past.
Prosecutors have indicated they will seek preventive detention, an indefinite sentence reserved for offenders deemed a continuing risk to public safety. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for February 2025, with Purchase to remain in custody until then.