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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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The complainant's evidence heard
in a Feilding sex case "screamed" inconsistency, defence lawyer
Steve Winter said. A jury of nine men and three women
took about an hour and a half to acquit a 19-year-old Feilding man accused of
attempted sexual violation of his half brother, then aged 11, in 2005. Mr Winter was giving his closing
address in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday on behalf of his
19-year-old client who stood accused of sexually violating his half brother
between January and June of 2005. The charge was later downgraded to
"attempted sexual violation" after the complainant said, in
evidence, his brother had only attempted to violate him. This was in contrast
to what he'd told police - that he'd been raped. Both the accused and his half
brother have name suppression. Mr Winter said the complainant was
a "calculating and deliberate" liar. "Can you be sure he told you
the truth? I say the answer is no." The culture of sex abuse was evil,
Mr Winter said, but the culture of false complaints was equally "evil
and pernicious". "We're inclined to believe
children when they tell us these things. Allegations are easy to throw, but
very difficult to get rid of." Though the accused was innocent,
there would be people in his life who would continue to treat him
differently, Mr Winter said. "Some muck sticks - accurate
or not." The Crown had argued that the
accused used his brother as a "sexual experiment", which began when
he was aged 11. The complainant was then
"groomed" with periodic inappropriate touching of the boy's genital
area, before the offending escalated to sexual violation, which occurred
"two or three times", prosecutor Evan McCaughan said. The two-day trial was presided
over by Judge Alastair Garland. |
