Abuse class prompts girl’s rape complaint

A programme at school identifying sexual abuse prompted a young girl to make a rape complaint, a court has heard.

The 46-year-old on trial was last year convicted of indecent assault, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and rape – charges involving two girl victims.

Christchurch District Court Judge Alistair Garland was told of his prior history as the judgealone trial began involving two different girls.

The man sat shaking his head as Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier delivered her opening address.

He denied two charges of committing indecent acts on girls aged under 12, and three charges of rape.

His counsel, Andrew McCormick, told the judge the man’s defence was none of the alleged acts actually occurred.

Boshier read out an agreed statement detailing the man’s previous convictions and describing the earlier offending. He was found guilty of five offences at the end of a jury trial.

He was granted name suppression in that case, and has been granted interim suppression until the end of the present trial.

The Crown case will allege that the man touched one girl’s thigh and tried to touch her bottom when she was in bed with him when she was aged five or six.

Another girl would allege he came into her bedroom when she was probably about eight, firstly touching her thighs, but later getting into bed quietly and slowly so he would not wake her, and raping her.

Boshier said the girl did not realise what was happening to her until she attended a school class about parts of the body and sexual offending.

The agreed statement showed the girl attended a Keeping Ourselves Safe programme at school in 2016, which included sessions on identifying types of abuse, and watching a DVD about what happened once abuse was reported.

The girl made the abuse allegations after those classes.

Boshier also read an agreed statement about ‘‘counterintuitive’’ evidence in child sex abuse cases, where children’s reactions were ‘‘variable’’ and they could continue to seek contact with the abuser.

The trial is continuing.