Longtime sex offender Johnathan Tamihana will now be behind bars indefinitely - following two separate attacks at a South Auckland reserve

Tamihana followed a French backpacker into the reserve in 2023 and strangled and indecently assaulted her.

Eleven months later, he attacked a jogger at the same reserve and attempted to rape her.

The 33-year-old will now be returned to prison indefinitely, following a rare sentence of preventive detention in Auckland's High Court this week.

Tamihana first went to prison at age 19 for sexually abusing a 13 year old, and has been out of prison only for a total of 24 months since then.