A former Bay of Plenty man has been found guilty of multiple historical sex offences against young girls.
A jury in the High Court at Rotorua trial found Garry John Jones, 63, guilty today of 45 of the 49 charges laid against him which related to offending from the 1970s to the late 1980s in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Name suppression was lifted for Jones, the former owner of Sunny Gymz in Whakatane who later moved to Auckland.
He previously denied all charges against him which included 28 counts of indecencies with a girl under 12, 10 charges of indecencies with a girl between 12 and 16 years and three of rape.
Other charges included four counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of assault with intent to commit sexual violation, one of male assaults female and two of assault on a child.