|
|
Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
|
A 15-year-old girl told a jury how
she was betrayed by her father when he allegedly committed five sexual
offences against her. The 40-year-old Stratford man, who
cannot be named, has denied two charges of touching the girl's bottom, two of
rubbing her breasts and genitalia with his hands and one of sexual violation
by rape. The offences are alleged to have
happened at Stratford and Eltham, between August and September last year. "I felt like I was betrayed
by my own father because he said he'd be there for me," the girl told
the New Plymouth District Court when describing the aftermath of one of the
incidents. "I ended up crying myself to sleep." The court heard how the girl had
known the accused as her uncle until about a year before the alleged offences
occurred. It was arranged that she would
spend every second weekend with her father as well as weekdays while
attending school. The complainant said she was taken
by her father to his house after a family gathering and pressured into
drinking Drambuie liqueur mixed with L&P. She said she felt sick and
"spewed up". Later, the girl was encouraged to
sleep in the accused's bed and had fallen asleep when the accused allegedly
crept into bed and indecently assaulted her. "I got away from him by
moving my hips," she told the court when asked how she stopped him.
"I hopped out of bed and said, `I'd rather be at home than stay here
with you'." She then walked back to her own
bed. The next occasion is alleged to
have been about September 3 at Eltham when she again stayed at her father's
home. There, the court heard, the accused slapped the girl's bottom. Her father told her they were to
have sex that night. She refused. He then said she was going to sleep beside
him. "You always get what you want
and I never get what I want," the accused is alleged to have said. After almost three hours of
cross-examination from defence counsel Patrick Mooney, the girl agreed she
had not said this in former statements. The girl also told how, on another
occasion, the accused pushed her against the window sill before raping her. The girl told the court that the
accused had apologised to her at a recent family gathering for "what
he'd done in the past and he couldn't turn back time". Mr Mooney described the
complainant's evidence as a pack of lies. "You're just making this up
as you go along to try and fill in the gaps," he said. While the complainant said the
offences occurred on weekends she stayed with her father, Mr Mooney said
there were only two such weekends since July 2005. The girl admitted she had a
problem remembering dates. Mr Mooney said she had only made up
the story as a way of getting to live with her mother. "You wanted to
get back to your mum's house because your father was too strict." |
