Father guilty on one count

BY LYN HUMPHREYS AND JARED SMITH

A 55-year-old New Plymouth father has been found guilty on one of the less serious of the 14 sexual and physical abuse charges levelled against him.

A jury in New Plymouth last night returned after 6½-hours' deliberation in an historical incest trial to find the man, who has interim name suppression, guilty by split decision of indecent assault.

By a majority of 11-1, they found the man guilty of indecent assault – rubbing his then 13-year-old daughter's chest on February 28, 1992.

On the other 13 charges, 12 were not guilty by unanimous decision while one of the five rape charges was a 11-1 not guilty decision.

Sentencing will be held on January 22 next year, at 9am, in New Plymouth court.

Judge Allan Roberts thanked the jury of six men and six women for such a conscientious effort where a local person was being tried.

"It wasn't easy and I imagine to a man and woman you regretted involvement when you knew what it was about."

Defence counsel Susan Hughes, QC, requested continued name suppression for the man for reasons of family protection, although Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich argued for its lifting in light of a guilty verdict.

Judge Roberts said he would revisit whether to continue name suppression when sentencing is passed.

"I'm not going to make a call on an issue like that at the moment."

Ms Hughes said she would ask for home detention at that time.

The man's bail continues and he was released into the waiting arms of five family members who were there as support.

An audible gasp was heard when the guilty verdict was announced.

The man showed little emotion throughout the reading of the verdicts.

He faced a raft of serious charges that he abused his daughter in the early 1990s when she was aged between 13 and 15.

Yesterday, in summing up after the three-day trial, Mr Marinovich told the jury the father had carried out horrendous sexual acts on his daughter, repeatedly raping, sodomising and sexually and physically assaulting her for about three years.

He used his daughter for his own sexual gratification, leaving her trying to deal with the pressure of not telling anyone.

The family's survival rested on her shoulders.

The burden on her was immense and she had dealt with it as best she could.

She was torn by the fear of violence from the man seen by the outside world as a great family man and the need to protect the family's good name.

"[The complainant] sat in the witness box and told you the truth.

"You saw her pain first-hand.

"You saw the emotional scarring this offending has caused her."

The questions asked under cross-examination about the complainant's business, cars and jobs were not evidence, Mr Marinovich said.

Ms Hughes said the daughter's accusations of appalling abuse from a brutal father were pure fantasy.

"Where were the tears, the runny nose?" she asked.

Even if the jury thought her emotion was credible, the jury must separate fact from fiction, Ms Hughes said.

"She may believe it herself, but that is not enough."

The image that the daughter had created for herself was of a girl subject to appalling abuse, a teenage mother, who went to university and had string of impressive successes.

"When you recognise the fiction that is her life, then her complaints become revealed for what they are: Flashbacks, a fictional account of a life not led.

"Look for the evidence. She was high-achieving, had many friends, was confident articulate and outgoing.

"She never presented as a victim and there's good reason for that and that's because she wasn't a victim."

Rather, she had a privileged upbringing others only dream of which was because of highly committed parents.

There was discipline but no more than in other families.

The real victim was the daughter's child who was now denied the unconditional love of her grandparents.

In asking the jury to find her client not guilty, she said: "This man is not a brutal rapist. He is not perfect, but he has and always will try to do the best for his daughter."

- © Fairfax NZ News