Woman testifies in trial of 75yearold accused of groping young girls in van

A 75YEAROLD man is on trial accused of groping two young girls, sometimes while he was driving a van.

He appeared in the High Court at Invercargill yesterday after pleading not guilty to four charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

Crown prosecutor Olivia Taylor told the jury the incidents happened more than 20 years ago.

She said the defendant — who has name suppression — inappropriately touched both girls on more than one occasion in three different locations.

The complainants both alleged he violated them in his van on a trip between Dunedin and Gore on separate trips.

Yesterday, the court heard evidence from one of the girls, who said she did not want to be in the vehicle with the man.

She was about 9 years old at the time, and the man reached up her pants, touched her for around five minutes and then continued driving, she said.

She recalled him smiling and maybe chuckling afterwards.

‘‘What you’ve described is impossible,’’ counsel Hugo Young told the witness.

The tearyeyed complainant denied that was the case.

Mr Hugo said she was recalling a Mercedes van, which was not what the defendant was driving at the time.

‘‘The seating arrangement was different . . . It had one less row because it’s a shorter vehicle,’’ Mr Young said.

‘‘I’m saying that . . . your description of the van is completely wrong.’’

The witness said she may not have known what vehicle the alleged offending occurred in, but she was certain it happened.

Later in the trial, the second complainant is expected to give evidence that she confronted the defendant in 2019.

The court heard that text messages between the two show the defendant said it was the complainant’s actions that ruined her own life and that ‘‘she came on to him’’.

Mr Young said the defendant would take the stand later in the trial, which is expected to continue all week.

Refreshing return . . . New Clutha Licensing Trust general manager Ross Balloch gets back to basics at his old haunt, the Rosebank Lodge, last week.