|
Allegations of Abuse
in NZ |
|
|
peterellis Home / abuse allegations / Peter Stewart Peter Stewart - News
Reports - Page 2 |
|
|
The Press The prominent Canterbury man found
guilty of sex charges was yesterday revealed to be Peter Maxwell Stewart.
Although he is part of a high-profile Christchurch family, he is less
prominent than his wife of 39 years, Pieter Stewart, who owns New Zealand
Fashion Week. MARTIN VAN BEYNEN profiles the woman who is standing by her
man. Pieter Stewart made an elegant
figure as she walked across the soft carpet to the panelled witness box in
the High Court in Christchurch. All eyes were on her and her Louis
Vuitton handbag, in which she reputedly carries a touchstone amethyst. Tall, tanned, immaculate in black
slacks, a black top and a camel-coloured cropped jacket, she sat down, donned
her stylish, black-rimmed spectacles and prepared to defend her husband of 39
years. Although the remarkably
young-looking 61-year-old apparently meditates every morning, she would have
needed more than 30 minutes of "ohmmmmm" to gird herself for this
low moment in a life usually lit by the glamour of belonging to one of
Christchurch's richest families, and by being in charge of glitzy New Zealand
Fashion Week. No, she told the court, she had
never seen her husband have any sexual or inappropriate contact with the
complainant, now 48, who was alleging "kind, patient" Peter had
sexually abused her over a 10-year period. Nor had she ever suspected
anything, she told defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton. No, a pink vibrator mentioned by
the complainant was not hers. No, she could not see how any of
the alleged incidents could have happened without her knowing. She was steadfast and unflustered.
In business, she is regarded as tough, calm, pragmatic and self-contained,
and in the witness box it showed. Three days after her evidence, the
jury of six men and six women found Peter Stewart, farmer, motor racer and
luxury-yacht skipper, guilty of sexually molesting the complainant when she
was under 12 and of raping her and sodomising her after she turned 13. Pieter Stewart, like her husband,
looked unbelieving. But, in court anyway, she held up. No tears. The stain of the allegations crept
into the Stewart household in March 2004 when a relative told Pieter Stewart
that a woman the Stewarts had known most of their lives was accusing Peter
Stewart of having sex with her when she was only 14. Furious, Pieter Stewart accosted
her husband with the allegation, which he met with a shocked denial. She then asked him if he had ever
had sex with the complainant. He had, he confessed shamefacedly,
but only on one occasion when she was 17. Pieter Stewart hit the roof. "You disgusting
bastard," she said. He took off for the night, but
slowly they patched things up and carried on. The couple first met at the
Christchurch races during Show Week in 1967 when Pieter McKenzie, educated at
St Margaret's College, still lived at home in the slightly seedy Zetland
Hotel in Cashel Street that her parents owned. Peter Stewart liked fast cars, was
dashing and charming and had a playboy reputation. Already with his own farm at
Hawarden, his courtship with Pieter was hindered by the fact he had lost his
licence and by other obstacles. If she wanted to stay overnight at
the farm, her mother, Joan, said to be strict, insisted she was chaperoned.
When Stewart stayed with the McKenzies, he was given a hotel room. Within a year the couple were
married and by 1970 had moved to a more substantial spread at Hororata. Pieter Stewart did a bit of modelling
for pocket money, but soon the first of four children was on the way and she
spent the next 10 years bringing up her young family. An associate, who has known the
family for years, says Pieter Stewart was an ideal farmer's wife but always
wanted to stand on her own two feet and "create her own career". In 1979 she bought a model agency
from friend Paula Ryan and ran it as Pieter's Modelling Agency before selling
it in 1985 to be associate editor of Fashion Quarterly. In the late 1980s she started a
public relations and promotion firm and held voluntary posts with the Child
Cancer Foundation of Canterbury and the Hororata branch of the National
Party. She organised and produced television fashion events (Corbans then
Wella) throughout the 1990s. New Zealand Fashion Week, a forum
for designers to show their wares to international buyers and media, and a
big excuse for a fashion party with all the trimmings, grew out of those
shows and is now touted as New Zealand's biggest event. It started in 2001 and continues
to get bigger and better. The company that owns the event is
solely owned by Pieter Stewart, although Peter Stewart's stepmother, Lady
Stewart, is a director. Peter Stewart has always been
proud of his wife's achievements. In court, he called her talented and
successful and emphasised that she was a wealthy woman in her own right, with
several properties in New Zealand. Friends say he has been fully
supportive of her efforts and is her biggest fan. A business contact of the family
says Peter Stewart can come across as an "arrogant p...." but that
was not uncommon in people who had always been surrounded by money. "Once you get behind that he
really is not a bad guy," the businessman says. To an extent, the couple have
lived separate lives for many years, with Peter Stewart based in Picton to
run his luxury-yacht business and Pieter Stewart living in Auckland to be
close to the Fashion Week office. The couple regularly get together at
Hororata for family weekends. To outsiders, it seemed an unusual
arrangement, but a friend says it seemed to work. Their plans for coming years
included sailing around the world, and they looked forward to grandchildren. Instead, Pieter Stewart will
probably be visiting her husband in a Christchurch prison. She will, as always, cope,
insiders say. Pieter Stewart is "tremendously loyal" to her family
and to those she works with, a friend says. "Her family and her husband
are far too important to her to walk away. She would have gone by now if she
was going to go," the friend says. "She will stand by Peter. She
will visit him in jail if need be, do all the other things, and I think you
will find people will be overwhelmingly supportive of her." A businessman close to the family
says Peter Stewart may not cope as well. "He will do jail hard." . STEWART DYNASTY Sir Robertson Stewart An electrician by trade, the
determined and astute plastics pioneer built PDL Industries into a major
export company with a yearly turnover of $350 million. In its heyday the company
employed nearly 2000 staff worldwide. He was knighted in 1979 and the company
was sold to French multinational Schneider Electric in 2001, the Stewart
family netting about $97m. He died in August aged 93. A significant
benefactor of the arts, the restoration of Christ Church Cathedral (of which
he was a canon almoner) and many other causes. . First wife: Gladys Second wife: Adrienne . Adrienne, Lady Stewart A major figure in the arts in
Christchurch, the energetic and forthright doyenne was Sir Robertson's
secretary since 1959 and took an active role in running PDL Industries. Lady
Stewart was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New
Year's Honours. . Son Mark Stewart He became chief executive of PDL
Industries in 1998 and now runs the family's aggressive investment firm,
Masthead Portfolios. Recently involved in a takeover attempt of Auckland
healthcare provider Abano. . Son Peter Successful deer farmer and former
motor racing stalwart. In recent years has owned and skippered the super
yacht Pacific Eagle, based in Picton, which he described as 'Huka Lodge of
water'. The yacht is available for local and overseas charters. . Peter Stewart's wife Pieter Stewart Accomplished businesswoman who set
up, owns and organises New Zealand Fashion Week, a forum for New Zealand
fashion designers releasing collections for local and international buyers. . Son Robert Stewart Chairman of electrical goods
manufacturer Skope Industries, which he transformed over 35 years from a small
manufacturer of electric heaters and metal appliances to a significant
business employing more than 400 people, with offices in New Zealand and
Australia. His son, Guy, is now the managing director. . Robert Stewart's wife Barbara Stewart Former leader of the
second-biggest faction on the Christchurch City Council - the Right- leaning
Independent Citizens - but stood down when the number of councillors was
halved before the 2004 election. She was one of the judges of the new art
gallery's design and remains active in local politics and on art projects. Naming
usual after conviction Peter Stewart would have faced
"almost inevitable" failure in his bid to keep his name secret, a
top lawyer says. However, Marie Dyhrberg said she
feared the "definite and absolute" swing towards the right of the
public to know the identity of those appearing before the courts was coming
at the cost of trampling the rights of those still presumed innocent. Dyhrberg's previous cases have
included getting permanent name suppression for an American billionaire who
admitted smuggling cannabis into New Zealand during the America's Cup in
Auckland. The decision was overturned on appeal, and Peter Benjamin Lewis was
named. She said the convictions entered
against Stewart on historical child-sex charges effectively doomed his bid
for permanent name suppression in the current judicial environment. "There is a presumption (on
conviction) for naming that you can't argue against," she said. "There will be rare cases
where it will still be appropriate for really emotional family issues, and
particularly when the public good isn't served by naming someone." Dyhrberg said rights were being
trampled when defendants were identified before accusations were proven in
court. "I'm still of the view there
ought to be suppression of name until conviction or guilty plea, and that
should be automatic." Defendants who were identified and
then cleared of charges still had their reputations smeared, Dyhrberg said. "People will always say they
`got off'. They won't say `they were acquitted' or `they were found
innocent'. They say they got off and it sticks. "It doesn't hurt the public
to wait a few more weeks. The argument that the public ought to know in no
way outweighs the presumption of innocence." --------------------
CAPTION: GRAPHIC:
Stewart dynasty: Sir Robertson Stewart,, Adrienne, Lady Stewart, Mark
Stewart, Peter Stewart, Robert Stewart, Pieter Stewart. Marie Dhyrberg |
