DNA cited in abuse case

THE DNA of a Dunedin man and the girl he is accused of abusing was found on used condoms among his rubbish, a court has heard.

Evan Hedley Smith (62) allegedly sexually assaulted the girl up to four times a week for more than 18 months.

He pleaded not guilty in the Dunedin District Court to six charges of indecent assault and two of rape.

All counts are representative, meaning there are allegations of multiple illegal acts.

When the complainant, now 13, came forward with claims of sexual abuse beginning in 2015, police searched the man’s bedroom.

Six used condoms were taken from Smith’s bin and sent to ESR for forensic examination.

Two of them tested positive for his DNA, two for the girl’s DNA and two for both.

Crown prosecutor Richard Smith, in his opening yesterday, said the exact source of the complainant’s DNA could not be determined.

When Smith was interviewed by police he flatly denied any sexual offending.

He told Constable Shelley Phair he used the condoms because he was ‘‘waking up wet’’ and he would not expect anyone else’s genetic material to be found on them.

The defendant said the girl had found the contraceptive devices and blown them up like balloons at times.

Defence counsel Anne Stevens said the presence of the complainant’s DNA was therefore easily explained.

‘‘[Her] DNA on the condoms in Mr Smith’s room in his rubbish bag is nothing to do with sexual assault but to do with [her] playing with the condoms and contamination with the items in the rubbish bag.’’

Charges were laid against Smith after the girl made disclosures to her mother in April last year, the court heard.

In the complainant’s first video interview, played to the court yesterday, she described indecent assaults.

‘‘He started with just touching, then genital bits and it continued on for just about a year and I got really uncomfortable after a while, so I thought it was time to come clean,’’ she said.

‘‘Every time it’s happened, everyone’s been asleep.’’

Some weeks letter, the teenager approached police again to make further allegations of rape.

She said she ‘‘didn’t feel quite right’’ about discussing everything during the first interview.

In her opening statement, Mrs Stevens was highly critical of the girl.

‘‘The defence case is [she] is lying when she says Mr Smith sexually assaulted her, and [she] is dishonest and is not credible or reliable,’’ she said.

Mrs Stevens said the girl had concocted a ‘‘story’’ and even used that specific word while speaking to police about her version of events.

The allegations ‘‘arose after [the complainant’s] mother planted the idea in her head by specifically asking her daughter if Mr Smith had sexually abused her. There were no complaints from [her] prior to her mother raising the topic’’, Mrs Stevens told the jury.

‘‘The defence case is that [her] story then grew each time she told it.’’

The trial, before Judge Michael Crosbie and a jury of seven women and five men, is scheduled to run for most of the week.