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The Dominion
December 2, 1997
How the nightmare starts
by Annie Gray
False accusations of sex attacks ruin
lives. David Dougherty and Nick Wills have now established their innocence.
Annie Gray reports on another man's ordeal after being falsely accused of
abusing his son, and the call for an inquiry into uncorroborated testimony
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A father who was labelled a paedophile and convicted of molesting his son,
then spent 14 months in jail for an offence he didn't commit, is living every
man's worst nightmare.
On his release from jail he found another man had been molesting his sons.
The father was freed from prison just over a year ago after the Court of
Appeal quashed all charges against him.
His parents, who are in their late 60s and supported him throughout his
ordeal, have had to mortgage their home to pay the $60,000 costs for the
appeal hearing.
He is angry at what he has been through, the 14 months lost, the almost three
years he could not see his children. He is angry at what his children have
had to suffer and angry for the stress and anguish his parents and partner
have had to endure over the past three years. Most of all he is angry at the
lack of accountability in a system which failed him so disastrously.
His lawyers are preparing a compensation claim for wrongful imprisonment and
civil claims against the Children, Young Persons and their Families Service,
the police and the therapist who counselled his sons have been filed by his
civil lawyer.
At his trial the falsely accused father was found not guilty of molesting his
younger son, but guilty of indecently assaulting his older son.
He lays the blame squarely at the door of the therapist who counselled his
son for over a year before the charges were laid, along with the police whom
he says would not believe his innocence and did not disclose information
about his son retracting before the trial, and at the system which allows men
to be convicted on the basis of uncorroborated evidence.
His ordeal began in May 1993 when his former wife, who suspected their son
had an attention deficit disorder and was also concerned about the unusual
sexual play he was indulging in, took him to a therapist.
According to the falsely accused father it was brought up at his trial that
the therapist had asked CYPS about evidential interviewing for sexual abuse
before she had even seen the child.
She was told an evidential interview was not indicated till the child was
ready to talk about how he had been sexually abused and by whom.
Concerned about her son's behaviour, the father's former wife asked him to
return to Auckland.
He did so in August 1993 and his son continued with the counselling. Both
sons underwent evidential interviews in June 1994 and charges were laid
against the father in October.
In early 1995 the two sons told their mother that their father had not played
"rude games" with them but that another person had.
At a counselling session two days later both boys appeared to withdraw the
retraction.
The therapist informed police of the retractions, which occurred before the
falsely accused father's trial, but they failed to disclose the information
to the defence.
Other retractions were also made by the boys at varying times, again being
withdrawn later.
The father says the allegations began as statements that he touched the boys
in the shower. Over time, the statements developed into stories of full-blown
abuse. Then the nightmare began.
The father had never been in trouble with the police before; he had never
stepped inside a court. "We are normal, quiet, private people who have
had our lives turned upside down," he says.
But he lays no blame with his son, who he describes as . . . "brave . .
. he held out for 14 months" (against questioning from the therapist).
Today the father is close to his children and spends as much time as possible
with them. He says that he never doubted he would be found innocent.
"We were awaiting the August 1995 trial date," he says. "I
knew I was innocent and believed the system would find that, too. When they
pronounced me guilty we were stunned."
He was sentenced to six years' jail. But the turnaround came nine months
after the trial when his son asked his mother if God knew whether you told
lies. She said God did, and the boy admitted his father had not done anything
to him.
The father's former wife contacted him in jail where he was awaiting a Court
of Appeal hearing, and in October 1996 the court quashed the convictions. A
new trial was not ordered.
In an agonising twist for the falsely accused father, another man, Andrew
Craig, was sentenced this month after pleading guilty to molesting both boys.
This abuse started around October 1993, some months after the counselling had
begun.
The falsely accused father says he is devastated about what this will have
done to his boys and deeply angry at the "evilness" of Andrew
Craig, who had attended his trial. The two boys had named Andrew Craig as one
of the people they said had molested them.
Throughout the whole ordeal what has upset the falsely accused father was
that he was judged guilty right from the start.
"I was called a paedophile and told I had done horrible things to my
sons," he says
As he sees it, once CYPS had done the evidential interviewing he was on a
rollercoaster ride.
"I was innocent but they chose not to believe me. My former wife was
forced to take out a non-molestation order against me. You are meant to be
innocent till proven guilty, but I was judged guilty from the start. Before
the trial I was not even allowed supervised access to my children."
He had no contact with his children for about three years.
He can't say enough about his partner and his family who have stood by him.
Throughout his ordeal his partner attended the Casualties of Sexual
Allegations group, a body set up to offer support to people falsely accused
and their families.
"The greatest fear I have now," he says, "is not of dying, but
of walking down the street and walking past a kid who later says I did
something to him and they track me down -- if it can happen once . . .
"It never goes away, it's always in the back of my mind. It never leaves
you and it never will.
"In prison I kept asking how did this happen to me? How did I get in
here?"
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