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Three News
Prominent Canterbury businessman
Peter Maxwell Stewart has gone to jail for three-and-a-half years still
asserting his innocence for historic sexual abuse convictions and has
immediately signalled an appeal. In the Christchurch High Court,
Justice Graham Panckhurst jailed Stewart, 62, a member of a prominent
Canterbury family, two months after the end of the trial in which a girl told
of abuse by Stewart from when she was aged eight to 14 years. The offending was from 1968 to
1974, when Stewart was in his 20s. Defence counsel Jonathan Eaton
sought a reduced sentence for Stewart's blameless life since, and the public
vilification that had taken place since his conviction on five charges of
indecency, one of rape, and one of sodomy. Outside the Court House, Mr Eaton
told reporters Stewart was grateful for the continued support of family and
friends "which continues today". He said an appeal would
immediately be filed and he would therefore make no further comment. A statement from the family of the
victim, a woman now in her 40s, said that the conviction of Stewart brought
some closure for her and those close to her. "Over the past three years
this horrible situation has devastated, disintegrated and destroyed families
and extended families. "It has stretched 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 statement said. |
