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The Press Guilty verdicts on historical sex
charges in the trial of a prominent Canterbury man have failed to lift the
secrecy over his identity. The man, who was yesterday found
guilty by a jury on one charge of sodomy, one of rape, three of indecent
assault and two of inducing an indecent act, continues to have name
suppression. The charges arise from sexual
abuse said to have occurred between 30 and 40 years ago. Crown counsel Philip Shamy told
the High Court in Christchurch the complainant, now 48, wanted the man's name
published but Justice Panckhurst said it was not appropriate to make a
"kneejerk" decision so soon after the verdicts. The judge reserved his decision
until December 19, when the man, who was remanded on bail, will be sentenced. Defence counsel Jonathan Eaton
said he had letters from lawyers for three other family members who believed
publication of the man's name would damage their businesses. One of the family members was in
delicate business negotiations, he said. They would all want to be heard by
the judge. The judge said no harm existed in
delaying the question, which was too complex to deal with in the immediate
aftermath of the verdicts. If the judge lifts the
suppression, at sentencing or beforehand, his decision could still be taken
to the Court of Appeal. It could be difficult to get a date in that court
before Christmas. The accused is expected to appeal
the jury verdicts. The jury returned its verdicts on
the 12 charges about 3pm after starting its deliberations at noon on
Thursday. As the first guilty verdicts were
announced, the accused, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and a spotted
tie, bowed his head and closed his eyes. He looked shaky and stunned as the
guilty verdicts continued. A young female member of the
accused's family began sobbing in the court's public gallery, and others
gasped and shook their heads. Distressed family and friends gathered outside
the courtroom after the verdicts to console each other. Men and women were in
tears. The complainant was not in court
and said through police she did not want to comment. The jury acquitted the accused on
four other rape charges and could not reach a verdict on another. Whether she consented to the acts
of intercourse was a major issue for the jury as no evidence existed to show
she resisted. The Crown argued the complainant had submitted rather than
consented. With the verdicts, the jury
accepted the Crown case that the accused manipulated the complainant to
masturbate him and perform other indecencies on him in the late 1960s when
she was under 12. The Crown said the complainant had
been in love with the dashing young man who drove fast cars and who was kind
to her, and he had exploited that to turn her into the "perfect
victim". The jury found the accused
sodomised the complainant behind Christchurch International Airport when she
was aged between 10 and 13 and raped her in 1974 on his marital bed, where
she lay with an inflatable splint after breaking her ankle in a skiing
mishap. The man admitted one act of sexual
intercourse with the complainant that he said occurred on his boat when she
was 17. Wearing a white bikini, she had come on to him and "it just
happened", he said. The defence argued the complainant
had always been envious of the accused's wife and had repackaged her
childhood sexual fantasies into sexual attacks to pressure the accused to
bail her out of financial trouble. That had backfired when
negotiations ended and she was locked into the fabrications. The accused's care and kindness
had been repaid with allegations "fuelled by envy and motivated by
money", the defence said. |
