Man denies historic sex abuse
The son of a leading Ma¯ori figure has denied charges of historic sex abuse spanning more than a decade and involving three young girls.
The man, who has interim name suppression, is accused of indecent acts, sexual violation, rape and kidnap during the 1980s and 1990s.
A jury of 12 people will hear evidence from the three alleged victims, several witnesses, police officers and a clinical psychologist over the next two weeks at the Blenheim District Court.
On a DVD played for the jury as evidence, one of the complainants told police the alleged abuse happened so many times she lost count.
She claimed the abuse started when she was 4-years-old, when the defendant was about 9-yearsold, and continued until she was about 17.
‘‘You become numb. That little girl was so hurt, so damaged. She had a secret and it was a secret that was only happening to her, and she couldn’t tell anyone,’’ the woman said.
‘‘The horror of being sexually abused by [him] is the fact it was such a repetitive, such a continuous thing that happened ... How did I survive what has happened to me?’’
The alleged offending happened at her home while they watched television, in the back seat of vehicles, and later when they were teenagers at their place of work, she said.
‘‘It made me sick, but that’s how he was. He always wanted to have sex but we never did, it was everything else. It was just yuck.’’
The woman said she told her parents about the abuse when she was about 14-years-old, but when her parents confronted the man’s family, the allegations were dismissed.
‘‘They had meetings up at the marae about it,’’ the woman told police in the DVD interview.
‘‘[The man’s father] was the big cheese at [the] marae, the upoko. And [the man] was his son, so he got away with it. Today, he’s not getting away with it.’’
The woman cried in the witness stand as the DVD played.
She told the court during cross examination that after the man’s family was told, she was bullied at kapa haka rehearsals, spat at in the street and almost run over by the man’s relative.
But the man’s lawyer questioned why the woman would continue to work with the man, especially after the alleged hostility she experienced from his family.
He also questioned her recollection of when the alleged offending happened, and how long her family knew about it.
On the second day of the trial, he said there were ‘‘no specifics to ages, times or dates’’ in the woman’s evidence.
The defence lawyer asked if she was referring to herself as the ‘‘damaged girl’’, or whether she was talking about her daughter.
‘‘It is my story, that’s my journey,’’ the woman replied.
She could clearly remember the first time she was allegedly abused and the last time, she said.
The man faces 10 representative charges; three counts of an indecent act on a girl under 12, four counts of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act, and three counts of sexual violation.
He also faces two charges of rape, and one of kidnapping. The trial continues.
‘‘You become numb. That little girl was so hurt, so damaged.’’ Complainant