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The Press Christchurch Press
reporter Martin van Beynen profiled Stewart after his identity was revealed
last month. Christchurch's
high-society Stewart family is standing staunchly by Peter Maxwell Stewart,
who has been named as the prominent Canterbury man found guilty of historical
sex- abuse charges. Stewart, 62, the son
of Christchurch plastics magnate Sir Robertson Stewart, who died in August,
is married to the owner and managing director of New Zealand Fashion Week,
Pieter Stewart. They have four adult children. The wider Stewart
family, now led by Adrienne, Lady Stewart, has played a major role in
Christchurch affairs and is a generous benefactor of many causes, including
the arts and Christ Church Cathedral. A close friend of
the family, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Press that
family and friends of Peter and Pieter Stewart would "stick by them
through thick and thin". "Anybody who
knows Peter and Pieter well just cannot believe he would do these
things," she said. "He's just not
that sort of guy. I've never, ever believed it. He is a kind, very thoughtful
man. It's just insane." The Stewarts were
devastated about having the family name dragged through the mud but were
determined to fight on, she said. John Durning,
principal of Christchurch firm Durning Public Relations, said Peter Stewart's
lack of involvement in Fashion Week and the distance between his business
affairs and those of his wife made fallout among sponsors extremely unlikely. The Stewarts would
be going through a terrible time, but many families weathered similar shocks
without their general good name suffering, he said. A public relations
consultant close to Christchurch's network of movers and shakers said the
Stewarts were a powerful but down-to-earth family who had done a great deal
for the city, and she had detected no "malicious glee" over their
predicament. "People
genuinely feel a deep sadness about the whole thing. The Stewart family have
a good reputation and people don't want to see it tarnished because of
this," she said. The Stewarts had
provided thousands of jobs for Cantabrians and "I'm just glad Sir
Robertson is not alive to see it because it's pretty shocking", said a
businessman who knows the family well. Members of the
complainant's family, including her brother and her elderly mother, were in
court to see the suppression lifted yesterday, but declined to comment.
"Maybe in a few weeks," a spokesman said. The complainant
cannot be identified but she was closely involved with the Stewart family
from a young age. Facing a jail sentence of about four years, Stewart will be
home for Christmas. Stewart was found
guilty on December 7 by a jury on one charge of sodomy, one of rape, three of
indecent assault and two of inducing an indecent act. He was acquitted on
five other charges, and three charges were dropped during the trial. The complainant
alleged the offending, between 1967 and 1978, had started when she was eight
and continued until her late teens. Stewart never worked
for any length of time in the family business, PDL Industries, which his
father took over in 1957. Sir Robertson built the business, which was strong
in exporting, to an annual turnover of about $350 million. It was sold to
French firm Schneider Electric in 2001, with the Stewart family receiving
$97m. Stewart, the second
son of his father's first marriage, to Gladys Stewart, went almost straight
from school to his own farm in Hawarden, where he stayed until the late
1960s. He met his wife,
whose family owned the Zetland Hotel in Cashel Street, in central
Christchurch, at the races in 1967, and they were married a year later. |
