Granddaughter left scarred for life by abuse

A football coach who groomed young girls and molested them, including his own niece and granddaughter, is behind bars.

The Manawatu¯ man, who has name suppression to protect the identity of his victims, still denies the offending, which included hugging, kissing and forcing girls as young as age 7 to touch his genitalia.

As his victims and family watched from the public gallery, Judge Stephanie Edwards sentenced him in the Palmerston North District Court on Friday to three years and six months jail.

In a video played to the court, the man’s granddaughter said she once thought of him as a kind and caring man. ‘‘But I was obviously wrong.’’

She was aged 8 when her grandfather took her hand and placed it on his genitalia, while they watched a movie together in February 2017.

She reported the incident to her father two weeks later, after the grandfather told her to come to him if she ever wanted to know what a penis felt like.

‘‘I feel like a part of me is missing. I used to always visit him, but I never want to see him again.

‘‘I wish these things never happened,’’ the girl said.

She takes medication to sleep and cries randomly, she told the court.

The man’s son said his daughter kept the man’s offending a secret until he attempted to violate her a second time.

‘‘I am so proud of my baby girl for having the courage to speak up.

‘‘She has been forced to deal with feelings and emotions she never should have. She has lost all trust in people. I have lost a father.’’

Another victim told the court the man’s advances started in 2003, when she was aged 11.

He was her football coach and would give her a ride home from training. The girl, who had lost her dad at a young age, looked up to him as a fatherly figure.

He would spend time at her house and, over 18 months, initiated contact by hugging, tickling and play fighting with the victim.

After one soccer game, he tackled the girl to the ground and kissed her neck, which left hickeys.

On another occasion, the two were alone watching a movie when he asked during a kissing scene if she had kissed or ‘‘been with’’ a boy.

‘‘You told her how great sex was. You put your hand under her shirt... and put her hand in your pants on your [genitalia],’’ the judge told the man.

His advances were so gradual the victim didn’t recognise they were inappropriate until years later.

The victim told the court she was pregnant, but suffered anxiety that would force her to become a ‘‘super protective’’ mother.

‘‘The effects of being groomed by a sexual predator [never leave].’’

The judge said the man’s actions were a gross breach of trust.

His continued denial of the offending had made life difficult for the victims.

‘‘Often, with very young victims of sexual abuse it’s not until several years later that the impacts of the offending become apparent.’’

The man had four previous convictions for indecent exposure in the 1980s. He also took medication for depression.