Man enticed girls, court told

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 12

Man enticed girls, court told

A girl now aged 15, yesterday claimed in the District Court to have accompanied a man for 18 months, during which they travelled New Zealand, rented houses in Otago, and claimed a de facto couple’s benefit from the Social Welfare Department in Dunedin. Her evidence was given during the preliminary hearing of charges against the man, Clifford Frederick Ward, aged 39, a sickness beneficiary, in relation to the girl and two other girls. Ward has elected trial by jury on the charges. The charges in relation to the girl who gave evidence yesterday, and who was aged 13 and 14 at the time, were that on October 14, 1982, he unlawfully enticed away the girl, then aged 13, with intent to deprive her mother of her; and that between October 14, 1982, and November 1, 1983, he had sexual intercourse with the girl when she was aged 14.

Prosecution evidence in relation to these charges was completed yesterday. Evidence has still to be heard in regard to charges of taking away two girls aged 14, on or about May 3 this year with intent to deprive a parent or guardian of them.

Mr R. M. Naysmith and Mrs C. M. Holmes, Justices of the Peace, adjourned the depositions hearing to June 26 for completion. Sergeant L. J. Bruce prosecuted and Mr K. J. Grave appeared for the defendant. The girl involved in the first two charges faced by the defendant, gave evidence of leaving school and going into Cathedral Square and meeting the defendant, in October, 1982. She told him she was going to run away and he suggested she accompany him to Wellington. She went home and packed some clothes in a bag and then met the defendant in the Square. They travelled by bus to Picton and by ferry to Wellington.

She detailed their travels from there to Kaitaia and south again to Picton. They hitch-hiked from Blenheim to Reefton and then to Hokitika.

In Hokitika the defendant forced sexual intercourse on her, she said. He then threatened to kill her, and her mother and family, if she told anybody about it. She was spoken to by police in Hokitika but gave a false name.

They then travelled to Balclutha, over the Haast

Pass. The girl said she wanted to go home. She had stayed with the defendant because he frequently threatened suicide or to kill her and her mother.

They arrived in Dunedin on December 2, 1982, and rented a flat They obtained a de facto couple’s benefit. She used another name and said she was aged 16, and that her parents had been killed in a car accident. She had turned 14 at that time, the girl said. On one occasion he forced her to have intercourse and afterwards told her if she told anybody, he would get her.

She ran out towards the beach but he caught up with her and dragged her back to the house.

He repeated his threat to kill her and her mother if she told anybody what he had done.

Later, they drove to other areas of Otago and then to Kaikoura, by-passing Christchurch. They then drove to the West Coast, and to Timaru where the defendant got a job. She found there that she was pregnant, and received help through a social welfare organisation. A baby son was born in May this year. A constable saw her in the maternity hospital and subsequently she was telephoned, and then visited by her mother. She told her mother that the defendant had forced her to have intercourse with him.

Cross-examined the girl said that, before this occasion, she had left home for two or three days. She had not been getting along at school or home. She had a boyfriend at the time but had not left home with a boy. She had not planned to meet the defendant in Cathedral Square. She was planning to run away, but had not at that stage done so, at the time she saw the defendant.

She did not run away because of the defendant. She said the first sexual intercourse was at the Hokitika camping ground. She was threatened before, and after, intercourse. She did not leave him the next day because she was scared of him. After the threats she still stayed with him. The girl said the defendant stopped her from going home. She knew that if she ran he soon would have caught her. She said she thought she told the police in Hokitika that she was the defendant’s

daughter — “because that’s what he told me to say.” She did not return home because each time she tried she was threatened. The witness said she tried to go home without telling the defendant, but he always followed. Mr Grave: For a year, he followed? Witness: For 18 months.

She agreed she had had the opportunity to tell staff in the Social Welfare Department in Dunedin the truth. She did not tell them the truth because she was scared.

She said that when they by-passed Christchurch she asked if she could go home, but the defendant said no. To further questions the girl said she had had sexual intercourse with a person before October 14, 1982. She had not had sexual intercourse with any person other than the defendant after that date. She said that while she was pregnant in Timaru the defendant was working and was away all day. Constable B. J. Spratt said he interviewed the defendant on May 30 this year.

In a written statement the defendant allegedly said he had seen the girl under the Durham Street bridge on October 14,1982. She said she had travelled from Auckland with a friend but that the friend had “run out” on her and taken some of her money. She said she had nowhere to stay. She had been sniffing glue. x He invited her to accompany him to Dunedin. There he took her to the Social Welfare Department, and a benefit was obtained.

They began living as man and wife a week later. They had had sex about once every three weeks but she had asked him for it, he said.

He had asked her if she had run away from home but she said she had not.

They stayed three months in Dunedin and five months in Taieri north.

After an argument she had told him her real name and that she was aged 13 years. They stayed at a man’s place in Dunedin but an argument occurred and the girl moved out. Later, she told him their relationship was over. They had sex but the girl was a willing partner.

The defendant’s statement said he returned to Christchurch last November 2 and had remained there since.