Man abused young girls for a decade
The son of a leading Ma¯ori figure has been found guilty of historical sex abuse spanning more than a decade and involving three young girls.
The trial of Kaiko¯ura man Marcus Shane Solomon ran for eight days, with the jury taking two days to return unanimous verdicts on 13 charges on Friday.
Solomon was found guilty on 10 charges, including sexual violation, rape and kidnap during the 1980s and 1990s. He was found not guilty on two counts of indecent assault on a girl under 12, and one of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act.
Solomon is the son of Whale Watch founder and Takahanga Marae upoko (leader) Bill Solomon, and cousin of former Nga¯i Tahu chief Ta¯ Mark Solomon. Nga¯i Tahu’s Kaiko¯ura kaumatua, Tai Stirling, 60, was found guilty of historic sex abuse in March 2016. The three-year police investigation into those accusations rocked the runanga.
Mark Solomon resigned as chairman of his Kaiko¯ura runanga in April, 2016.
A jury of 12 people in the Marcus Solomon trial heard evidence from his three victims, several witnesses, police officers and a clinical psychologist at the Blenheim District Court.
On a DVD played for the jury as evidence last week, one of his victims told police the abuse happened so many times she lost count.
‘‘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 offending happened while they watched television, in the back seat of vehicles, and later when they were teenagers and working together.
‘‘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.
The woman said she told her parents about the abuse when she was about 14-years-old, but when they confronted Solomon’s family, the allegations were dismissed.
‘‘They had meetings up at the marae about it,’’ the woman told police in the DVD interview.
The woman cried in the witness stand as the DVD played.
Marcus Solomon was found guilty on seven representative charges: an indecent act on a girl under 12, three counts of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act, and three counts of sexual violation.
He was also found guilty of two charges of rape, and one of kidnapping. He was remanded in custody and would reappear for sentencing on May 1.
"You become numb. That little girl was so hurt, so damaged. She had a secret ... and she couldn't tell anyone"