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NZ Herald Historic child sex abuse charges
against a prominent Canterbury man were prompted by his visiting the
complainant as an adult and suggesting they take up where they left off, a
jury in the High Court at Christchurch was told yesterday. The man, whose identity is
protected by a raft of suppression orders banning even such details as his
age, is alleged to have initiated sex with the complainant when she was aged
7 or 8 and abused her until she was about 17. Before Justice Graham Panckhurst
and a jury of seven men and five women yesterday, the man denied eight counts
of rape, one of sodomy, three of indecent assault and three of inducing an
indecent act. Dressed in a smart grey
pin-striped suit, white shirt and grey tie, the tall, well-built man answered
“not guilty'' in a firm, clear voice as the court registrar read the 15
charges. Opening the case for the Crown, Philip
Shamy told the court the abuse started when the accused was staying at a
hotel in Christchurch when he was visiting from his country address. Abuse graduated to regular rapes
from when the complainant was about 13. Most of the abuse happened on rural
properties, at a ski club and at a private address in Christchurch. There would be evidence, Mr Shamy
said, that the accused warned the girl not to tell anyone what was happening
between them as it would destroy those close to them and she would be to blame.
Mr Shamy said that years after the
abuse ended, the accused visited the woman at her Christchurch workplace in
2003 and suggested they have sex in the back of the shop. “That appears to have been the
catalyst to make her want to do something about it,'' he said. Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton said
the accused “clearly and simply'' denied any sexual offending involving the
woman “all those years ago''. “What she says [happened] could
not have and did not occur.'' However, Mr Eaton said his client admitted
having consensual sexual intercourse “on one single occasion'' when the woman
was “of age'' - about 16 or 17. He said the complainant's
credibility was at issue. In evidence, the complainant said
she had been virtually deaf since she contracted rubella as an infant. A
cochlea implant in 1997 had given her 50 per cent hearing in her right ear. She said she was about 7 or 8 when
she first met the defendant. He was aged about 22 or 23 at the time. “He was good to me ... interested
in me,'' she said. “I was just a little girl.'' She said she had wanted “many
times'' to tell her mother and sister about the man's offending. But she thought no one would
believe her because everyone thought she was “deaf and dumb''. “It was so hard. He had this power
over me.'' |
