One News
April 28 2008; 18:28

Man denies murdering niece

The trial of a man accused of murdering his 10-year old niece is under way in the High Court in Christchurch.

The Crown claims DNA evidence links 56-year old George Gwaze to the crime but his lawyers claim Charlene Makaza died of natural causes.

Gwaze is defending charges of sexually violating and murdering his niece who died in hospital on January 6 last year. He has been out on bail since his arrest.

The Crown says ESR [Institute of Environmental Science and Research] found a concentration of DNA from sperm cells in the crotch area of Charlene's underwear.

The Crown says Gwaze sexually attacked his adopted daughter in her bedroom while she slept. She was later found by her aunt, frothing at the mouth and unresponsive.

"I could tell just by looking at her face something was wrong," the aunt told the court.

Prosecutor Chris Lange says Charlene was suffocated to keep her quiet.

But the defence says Charlene was not sexually assaulted, was not suffocated and therefore was not murdered. Instead it claims she died of natural causes.

Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton says the death turned Gwaze's world upside down.

"On the early morning of the 6th of January the baby of the family - Charlene - who was by all accounts a sickly child, HIV positive, had become extremely unwell," Eaton told the court.

He says Charlene was initially being treated for a severe case of infection until medical staff discovered some injuries. 

But the Crown says 60 witnesses over the next three weeks will show this was a case of murder