Jury finds ex-Brethren guilty of indecency charges

A Nelson jury has found a former Exclusive Brethren man guilty of indecently assaulting four young girls, in a case in which charges dated back over 50 years.

Clive Ellen Petrie, 74, of Wakatu, was this afternoon found guilty of nine charges of indecently assaulting girls under age 12 and one charge of inducing a girl under age 12 to do an indecent act on him.

Petrie pleaded guilty to another charge of indecent assault on a girl at the start of his trial on Monday in the Nelson District Court.

The jury of nine women and three men took over four hours to return their verdict.

The Crown said the charges related to indecent assaults against four women when they were young girls in the 1950s, early 1960s with a further lot of offending against a fourth victim in the 1980s.

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