Allegations of Sexual Abuse
	False Allegations
	Michael Neville case
	Dominion Post November 23 2004 Teacher touched girl in class, court told The trial of a Kapiti schoolteacher facing four charges of indecently assaulting young female pupils has heard videotaped evidence from one complainant that he touched her during spelling tests. The girl was seven years old when the alleged touching took place and she outlined what had happened four years later in a police interview. She was the first of four complainants scheduled to give video evidence at the trial in Palmerston North District Court yesterday of Kapiti schoolteacher Michael Warren Neville. He has pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecent assault on girls then under the age of 12. All four were former pupils at the primary school, the name of which is suppressed, where he worked. Three of the charges are representative and the fourth relates to a single specific offence. In the first charge it is alleged that Neville touched the buttocks, upper thigh and genitals of the complainant, then aged seven, between January 1, 1999 and December 1999. The second charge was that between January 1, 2001, and August 25, 2003, he touched another girl on the buttocks, chest and stomach. In the third charge, which was not representative, it is alleged that between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2002, he touched and rubbed a girl's genitals. The fourth charge is that between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2002, he touched a girl on the buttocks. The first witness called yesterday was the school principal who gave the jury of 10 women and two men information about the school layout and operating procedures. Later in the day, the first complainant appeared by video and was questioned by Judge Les Atkins on the meaning of the terms truth, lies and promise. In a videotaped interview earlier with Child Youth and Family she said the teacher would start touching her on the back during spelling tests and work his way around to her front. Sometimes the touching was inside her pants and once, she said, he put his hand inside her underpants and touched her vagina for several minutes. The trial is expected to continue till Friday.