http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=51&t=0&id=3638
Infonews.co.nz
July 16 2007
Uncle's semen found in dead niece's underwear, court told
NZPA
DNA testing identified semen from
George Evans Gwaze in the underwear of his 10-year-old niece who was found
unconscious at his home and later died in hospital, Christchurch District Court
was told today.
The Crown has charged 54-year-old
Gwaze with the murder and sexual violation of Charlene Makaza, and is calling
evidence from 58 witnesses at the depositions hearing which began today.
The hearing is expected to finish tomorrow,
with only seven witnesses being called to give evidence in person. The rest of
the evidence is being handed to Judge John Bisphan in
written form.
Crown prosecutor Kerryn
Beaton said Charlene had been the niece and adopted
daughter of Gwaze and his wife and lived with them at their home in Hollyford Avenue, in the Christchurch suburb of Bryndwr.
On January 5, Charlene and her
sisters went to a church service and returned home about 10.30pm, and she went
to bed.
When her adopted mother' alarm went
off at 5.45am next day, she could hear Charlene's unusual breathing and found
her in bed unconscious and very unwell.
The girl had soiled herself and the
mother stripped off the bottom clothing, wrapped her in a towel, and the family
took her to the after hours surgery.
She was rushed from there to
Christchurch Hospital by ambulance where intensive efforts were made to
resuscitate her.
While in the intensive care unit,
medical staff found she had a serious injury to her anal area, consistent with
sexual assault.
There were multiple fresh tears to
the skin in the anal area, consistent with penetration by a penis or similar
object, Miss Beaton said.
There was a fresh tear of her hymen
consistent with penetration or attempted penetration.
Charlene had a hypoxic brain injury
and multiple organ failure and died about 18 hours after she was found.
"The sudden onset of hypoxia
was the result of asphyxia, the obstruction of the airway to the point of
unconsciousness, but there was no evidence of manual strangulation," she
said.
"The genital injuries were
severe, but would not in themselves have caused her death."
An intensive police investigation
followed to establish whether a stranger had entered the house and injured her.
Bedding and the clothes she was
sleeping in were taken for testing by ESR scientists. Semen was found in the
crotch of her underwear and DNA tests later showed it was Gwaze's.
Miss Beaton
said the crown case was that after Charlene came home that night,
she had been sexually violated and asphyxiated, causing her subsequent death.
When interviewed, Gwaze denied any role in what happened.
Charlene's family
are at court for the hearing.
The first witness was a nurse at the
after hours surgery, who gave evidence of the family bringing Charlene in. She
found she had diarrhoea streaked with blood on her
body, and was surprised at how easily she was able to insert a suppository of panadol, in an effort to reduce her high temperature.
She then noticed there was fresh
blood in Charlene's rectum, but she was not able to see any other injury before
she was taken away by ambulance.