Child sex accused ‘feared her partner’
Horse trainer was scared of predator, witnesses say
All you have been doing the past two days has been lying to this court, haven’t you? Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett
ACambridge horse trainer on trial for sexually abusing young girls with her partner was afraid of her coaccused, according to a psychiatrist and other defence witnesses.
Laken Maree Rose, 31, has pleaded not guilty to 50 charges of sexual violation, indecently assaulting children under 12, making and possessing objectionable publications and inducing young persons to commit indecent acts.
The charges against Rose relate to four girls aged between 3 and 14 at locations including the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Palmerston North.
The offences allegedly took place over a five-year period.
She has pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including nine of inducing a young person to perform sexual acts, while four other charges were withdrawn.
Rose’s defence to most of the charges she has denied is that she was compelled to participate in the alleged crimes under duress by former partner Andrew Alan Williams.
Williams, 54, pleaded guilty to 56 charges at the start of their joint trial last week.
Rose previously told the court her relationship with Williams was “intense” and he was “very controlling” and allegedly had strangled her once to the point of unconsciousness.
Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett put to Rose that there was “inescapable evidence” of her guilt of sexually offending against young girls for her own sexual gratification.
“All you have been doing the past two days has been lying to this court, haven’t you?” Pollett said.
Rose replied “no” and insisted she had been as truthful as she could be after trying to block out a lot of what happened and claimed she was genuinely fearful of Williams. She claimed Williams threatened to kill her, harm her family, and her animals but said she did not tell the police because she did not believe they could protect her from him.
Rose’s father, Philip Rose, described his daughter as being “very quiet and reserved” with him and his wife around the time she had tried to leave Williams in 2014.
He said his daughter was clearly fearful of Williams and not her normal self.
Stud farmer Kevin Taylor, a former employer of Rose in Dannevirke, said he recalled the defendant telling him that Williams had tried to strangle her.
“I could tell she was frightened of Andy (Williams) and I advised her to leave him and go to the police, but she told me it was very hard,” Taylor said.
Taylor said Rose did not specifically say she was fearful of Williams. “But as a parent, I could just tell.” Sarah Malone, who Rose stayed with at one stage around the same time, said she was concerned about the defendant’s “fragile” mental state.
She also said Rose was clearly scared to answer Williams’ phone messages.
Another former employer also gave evidence that Rose wanted to end the relationship with Williams in 2019 but was afraid to do so.
Dr Peter Dean, a psychiatrist who gave expert evidence for the defence, said in his opinion Rose had a dependent personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dean interviewed Rose twice, in February and October this year, but also had the benefit of two other psychiatrists’ reports and her GP patient records.
He said Rose had told him she was raped when she was 18 and also witnessed someoneclose to her being killed after being struck by a train.
Dean said he felt her PTSD and dependent personality disorder contributed to Rose feeling fearful of Williams but at the same time had an intense fear of abandonment.
Hesaid that conflicted with the fact her partner wanted to have sex with young children. But it madeher “more vulnerable” to coercion.
The trial continues on Monday.