Abuser turns up as victim's wedding photographer

A Hawke's Bay woman's secret past of childhood sexual abuse came out into the open when the man who molested her turned up more than 30 years later as her wedding photographer, a court was told yesterday.

Timber company foreman Peter Herbert Parker, 53, was found guilty in Napier District Court yesterday of raping the girl when she was nine in the early 1970s.

Parker had previously pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault and inducing indecent acts, representing numerous offences with the girl from when she was aged about six, and with another girl and a boy, both aged under 12.

He will be sentenced on December 7.

The victim told the court that after the rape she screamed, pushed Parker off her and ran to tell an uncle.

The sex abuse remained secret until Parker came back into her life after a family member arranged for him to be the photographer on her wedding day.

Parker told police he wondered when the offences would come back to haunt him.

- NZPA