Allegations of Sexual Abuse
	False Allegations
	Michael Neville case
	The Dominion Post December 19 2003 Girls sat on teacher's knee, court told A Kapiti Coast teacher accused of indecently assaulting four pupils often had girls sit on his knee, a mother of one of the alleged victims told Palmerston North District Court. The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughter, yesterday gave evidence at a depositions hearing for Michael Warren Neville, 47. Neville faces four charges of indecently assaulting the girls, aged under 12 years, between January 1999 and August this year. The woman told the two presiding justices of the peace that she was a frequent visitor to the school, which also cannot be named. During 1999, when her daughter was seven, she often saw Neville cuddling girls, holding hands with them and having them sit on his knee. "Not just with my daughter, but with other children," she said. In the playground children would run up to him, hug him and hold his hand, she said. However, the woman said she never challenged Neville about his actions. Another mother described Neville holding hands with children and giving them hugs, but she did not see anything wrong with it. The woman described Neville as "friendly" and "lovely". "Kids loved him," she told the court. Written evidence from two policemen was also handed up to the court, as were videotaped interviews made by two social workers. Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk's opening address was suppressed. The hearing continues today.