22yearold allegedly abused girl from age 5

A DUNEDIN man is on trial accused of sexually abusing a preteen girl in a variety of ways for four years.

The complainant, who was 5 when the alleged abuse was said to have started, says 22yearold Aniket Kumar took advantage of her when she was distracted by movies and at other times showed her pornographic material.

Kumar, a cleaner, pleaded not guilty to six counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and eight of doing an indecent act on a child under 12, at the outset of his trial at the Dunedin District Court yesterday.

Most of the charges are representative, alleging multiple instances of abuse.

Defence counsel Anne Stevens said the alleged sex acts simply never took place.

‘‘The defence case is that there is no medical, no scientific evidence, no electronic evidence that supports that prosecution case,’’ she said.

‘‘The defence case is the complainant’s account is both unbe lievable and unreliable.’’

Mrs Stevens told the jury to listen carefully to the young complainant.

‘‘It all hinges on what she says.’’

The allegations arose after the girl made disclosures to a teacher aide, who passed them on to the teacher, who in turn informed the school’s principal.

The complainant then sat down with a specialist police interviewer in August 2016 and a recording of that discussion was played for the jury yesterday.

‘‘He would like squeeze my neck and my mouth to kiss me,’’ the girl told Detective Marama Pocock.

‘‘He just has ridiculous things with me, like sex and stuff.’’

The complainant remembered being distracted watching the film Night at the Museum on one occasion when she said Kumar made his move.

‘‘He keeps touching me in weird ways,’’ the girl said.

‘‘When someone opens the door, he quickly pulls his pants up, pulls mine up.’’

When asked by Det Pocock how it felt, she replied: ‘‘Gross.’’

‘‘He never cuts his nails so it really does hurt,’’ the complainant said.

The girl said Kumar would also use his iPad to play her pornographic material — ‘‘sex and stuff’’.

‘‘I didn’t want to tell my mum and dad but I was so scared they wouldn’t believe me,’’ she said.

Crown prosecutor Craig Power told the jury the girl was medically assessed by a paediatrician following her claims of abuse.

There was nothing unusual found.

That did not disprove the allegations, Mr Power stressed.

Forensic testing of the complainant’s home was also undertaken, the court heard, but while they found semen in the bathroom, it was not that of the defendant.

When Kumar was first spoken to by police he categorically denied the abuse.

‘‘I did nothing. It’s lies. Why would you believe a 9yearold?’’ he said.

Later, he received legal advice and made no further statements to officers.

The trial, before Judge Kevin Phillips, is scheduled to last four days.