Kally Joseph Taylor has been jailed indefinitely for robbing a 71-year-old woman twice in three months, raping her the second time.

As she lay in bed, a 71-year-old woman thought a semblance of normality was returning to her life.

It had been three months since Kally Joseph Taylor had grabbed her in her yard, held a knife to her face, tied her up with her own scarfs, indecently assaulted her and stolen her possessions.

She had paid someone to repaint parts of her house, in an effort to make it feel like she was having a fresh start.

But she woke in the middle of the night to find Taylor at the foot of her bed.

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He uttered one phrase before he raped and robbed her: "I told you I would come back."

Taylor, 39, was sentenced in the High Court at Palmerston North on Thursday to preventive detention for his offending against the woman.

Justice David Collins said he had to give Taylor the open-ended prison sentence, with a minimum term of 10 years' jail, to protect the community.

"I believe you pose a serious risk to vulnerable elderly women," he told Taylor.

"This ensures no other women can be subjected to your violent attacks."

Taylor, from Foxton, first offended against the 71-year-old in her Palmerston North home on October 14, 2017.

He had seen her earlier that day and planned to return later.

He wore black from head to toe, including a mask, and grabbed her from behind while she worked in her back garden at 9.20am.

Taylor held a knife to her face and pulled her inside, where she gave him an eftpos card and the pin number under duress.

She was forced into her bedroom, indecently assaulted and tied up with scarfs, before Taylor fled in her Toyota Corolla.

He used the card to withdraw $1200 before abandoning the car.

Taylor returned to the property in the early hours of January 5, cutting himself on a window he smashed while entering.

He woke the woman and told her he was going to kill her, but not before they had sex.

He raped her in her bedroom, attempted to rape her in the lounge and forced her to perform a sex act.

He used her cellphone to play pornography, which he used to give her instructions.

Once he was finished, he took a filleting knife from the kitchen, which he used to cut out pieces of carpet he had bled on.

He stole bedding, another bank card and other items, which he put in the woman's Corolla before telling her to get in.

He withdrew $1000, left her on the side of the road and took off in her car. He was found a few days later.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she had her house painted after the first set of offending.

She then had more work done after the rape to banish any hint of Taylor from the house.

She asked Taylor to kill her during the rape as she was so exhausted, and just wanted to die.

"Would you do this to your mother? Hopefully not.

"Think about how sad it must make her to think that her little beautiful baby boy turned out so bad.

"A good word for you is 'abomination'."

The judge said Taylor had a history of breaking into homes, often targeting elderly women.

He also had convictions for masturbating in public and indecent assault, one of which gave him a first strike for violent offending.

That meant if he was given a finite sentence on Thursday, he would have served it without parole.

But preventive detention ensured he would not be released until deemed safe for the community, the judge said.