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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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A girl told the
Palmerston North District Court yesterday that former Kapiti teacher Michael
Warren Neville put his hand into her pants and touched her indecently. She was the third of
four complainants called to give evidence by video after the first girl said
the teacher had touched her inappropriately during spelling checks. Neville, 48, has pleaded
not guilty to four counts of indecent assault on girls under
12 years. All four are his former students and the alleged offences are said
to have happened between January 1999 and August last year. None of the girls
can be identified. The girl, identified as
Girl C, now 10 but aged eight at the time Neville allegedly put his hand in
her pants, told the court in a pre-recorded interview that Neville asked her
to help him sort out some books after school. She claimed that in the
book room Neville stood behind her, put one arm
around her stomach and the other down her pants. His hand went inside her
knickers for "quite a long time". Asked by a Child, Youth
and Family Services interviewer if Neville said anything to her while this
was happening, she said "no, but when he stopped touching me he said he
was late for a meeting and left". The next morning he apologised to her.
She said she had not spoken out earlier because she did not want to get
Neville into trouble. "He is the best teacher I have ever had." Several times she said
she liked Neville because he was always giving her cuddles. "He cuddles
heaps of girls," she said, naming about six she had seen Neville
embrace. On at least two occasions she had come up behind Neville and hugged
him back to "give him a fright". Another girl, Girl B,
aged between eight and 10 when she said Neville touched her buttocks, chest
and stomach, also praised him as a teacher. She agreed when questioned by
defence lawyer Bruce Squire yesterday that Neville's touching of her could be
no more than an effort to bring her closer to his desk so they could check
her work together. Girl D, whose evidence
began yesterday, alleged that Neville had touched her on the bottom.
"When I go up to his desk he always touches me," she said in an
interview. recorded close to the time of the alleged
offences. "I don't like it. He makes a lot of people
uncomfortable." |
