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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Closing arguments in
the indecent assault trial of Kapiti teacher Michael Warren Neville are to
begin this morning and the jury could retire to consider its verdict as early
as this afternoon. The last defence
witness finished giving evidence at 3.30pm yesterday and the trial was
adjourned till 9.30am today. Neville, 48, has
pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecent assault on girls aged under 12. The charges involved
four of his former pupils and were said to have happened between January 1999
and August 2003. Yesterday, the defence
called a series of teachers, teacher aides and parent helpers who had worked
in Neville's classes and observed his teaching practices and relationships
with the children. Each praised him as an
exceptional teacher with a great ability to communicate with children. They said children
would run up to him in the playground, fight to get near him, hold his hand,
talk to him and hug him. One mother said that
when her child had to wear an eye patch for several weeks, Neville wore one
for two days as well. The names of the
witnesses, the complainants and the school were suppressed. During the trial, which
began on November 22, the prosecution called 13 witnesses and the defence 16.
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