An arrest has been made more than a decade after a young girl was indecently assaulted in Te Anau.

Police said they had arrested a 30-year-old Christchurch man in relation to the incident in March 2002.

He will appear in Christchurch District Court next weekfacing a charge of burglary and one of indecent assault on a girl aged under 12, Mr Bowman said.

The mother of the girl said her family welcomed the news of an arrest.

"We're pretty stoked, actually. After all these years we never thought there would be any closure, so for my daughter it's pretty important," she said.

"The police have kept us informed the whole way through.

"They've been pretty amazing."

The arrest followed an assault of a 7-year-old girl in Te Anau.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Bowman, of the Invercargill CIB, said that a man unlawfully entered a houseand indecently assaulted the 7-year-old, who was a visitor to the property and asleep in bed.

Forensic evidence linked the man to the earlier incident through DNA.

Mr Bowman declined to comment on the nature of that evidence.

Police were pleased to have made the arrest.He said he had spoken to the girl assaulted 10 years ago and and her family on Wednesday night.

In 2003, the case featured on Police Ten-7.

It is alleged that about 3.30am on March 8 the previous year, an intruder entered a Te Anau house and made his way into the girl's bedroom.

He pulled back her bedclothes and indecently assaulted her.

He left behind a blue Nike cap.

Te Anau man Lloyd Matheson was the investigating officer at the time.

He said he was "elated" to hear an arrest had been made.

He said it would give the public confidence that investigations could have a result years later, and he was also pleased for the girl and her family.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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