Father guilty of indecent assault on daughter

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 4

Father guilty of indecent assault on daughter

A man was found not guilty of attempting to rape his 15-year-old daughter, but guilty of indecently assaulting her. by a jury in the High Court yesterday after a twoday trial. Mr Justice Quilliam remanded the man. whose name was suppressed, in custody to September 10 for sentence.

The jury took 40 minutes to reach its verdict.

Mr D. J. L. Saunders appeared for the Crown and Mr C. A. McVeigh for the accused.

A girl, aged 15. said that in April she was living with her father and her sister, aged 16. On Saturday. April 13. their father drove them in his van to the netball at Lincoln.

After the game they spent about six hours at the Springston Hotel but she had just one glass of beer. From there they went to the Baggeys Bar at Burnham Military Camp where they spent

about two hours before going to a disco in the Burnham township. Shortly before midnight when they were leaving to go home the girl said that she discovered that her jacket, which had been put behind the bar. was missing. Her father swore at the man behind the bar and blamed witness for having put it there. All the way home her father was swearing as he drove the van.

When her sister got out to open the front door she remained in the van and her father put his arm round her and kept repeating that she and her sister did not listen and did not trust him. She removed his arm.

They all slept in separate bedrooms and before she went to bed she kissed her father goodnight on the cheek in his room. Her father put his arm around her and got her to sit on the bed. When her father said he was going to "pash her up" she went to her own room, after

having a brief discussion with her sister.

She changed into her night clothes and her father came in and asked her what she and her sister had been talking about. At first she refused to tell him but he became very angry and slapped her across the face and then she told him.

On her father's instructions she got into bed and then he said: “I'll sleep with you. What do you think of that then?" She made no comment. The light was turned off and he left.

Because she was' frightened that her father would return she did not sleep for a period but then dozed off for a few moments. The next thing she knew was that her father was in bed beside her and he was naked and pressing his body against hers. He kept telling her what he was going to do to her in obscene terms.

The girl said that her father committed an inde-

cent assault on her. She was veiling and screaming and 'he kept hitting her and saying: "Shutup. you stupid bitch." She was tossed out of bed and ended on her knees on the floor. He was still striking her about the head and she tried to wipe aw’ay the blood which was coming from her nose.

After being dragged into the kitchen she was pushed into the bathroom and thrown into the bath. She hit her head on the bottom. Her father turned the tap on and told her to put her head under it.

Her father ordered her to , take off her clothes, and because she was too slow he ripped her nightie off. He ordered her to wash herself and helped her to do it.

After she returned to her bedroom her father found that her sister was not in her room and he went looking for her. He drove off in the van. The older sister had heard

what was going on and jumped out the window to get help. She ran to a neighbour's house 400 metres up the road and the police were called. When the police arrived just before 2 a.m. the 15-year-old girl was on the telephone and was in a distressed condition and suffering from serious facial injuries. The father came back in the van and when the police ' asked him what he had been up to he replied that he had had an argument with his daugher and had beaten her

up. The constable told accused that it had been more than that and accused said: "I tried to have sex with her." Questioned at the Christchurch Central Police Station accused refused to reply or feigned sleep or spoke in Maori. When pressed accused said that he could not remember what had happened because he had drunk two dozen bottles of beer.