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Allegations of Abuse
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NZ Herald
Peter and Pieter Stewart. Prominent businessman and social
high-flyer Peter Maxwell Stewart has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years
imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a young girl. Stewart, 62, the husband of
fashion week founder and owner Pieter Stewart, was sentenced in the High
Court in Christchurch this morning after a jury in December found him guilty
of rape, sodomy and indecent assault. The offences took place between 30
and 40 years ago when the victim was as young as eight. In court today, Stewart's lawyer
Jonathan Eaton said his client continued to maintain his innocence and had
the full support of his family. The prominent Stewart family made
$97 million from the sale of the electrical fittings and goods company PDL in
2001. Stewart admitted to his wife that
he had once had sex with the victim when she was aged 17 but has denied any
other abuse took place. Neither Pieter Stewart or any of
the couple's children were in court today because of the intense media
attention on the case. In a statement read out in court,
the victim's family said: "Over the past three years, this horrible
situation has devastated, disintegrated and destroyed families and extended
families. "It has stretched and/or
ruined long-term friendships. This is minor to the fact that the victim has
lived with her own hell for most of her life. "The conviction of Peter
Stewart brings some closure for the victim and those close to her." The family also asked for privacy. In a brief statement outside
court, Mr Eaton said his client was appealing the convictions against him. |
