Cambridge horse trainer Laken Rose pleads guilty to five more charges of inducing an indecent act on a 14-year-old girl, denies sexual violation and rape
Laken Rose was employed as a track rider and well known in Cambridge equestrian circles. Photo / Supplied
Laken Rose was employed as a track rider and well known in Cambridge equestrian circles. Photo / Supplied
Four charges of inducing an indecent act were dropped by the Crown, as Laken Rose admitted five similar charges. But she continues to deny sexual violation and rape of the 14-year-old victim, arguing some of the sexual acts were consensual or she was under duress from her partner.
A Cambridge horse trainer accused of grooming and sexually abusing four young girls has admitted five more charges halfway through the trial.
Laken Maree Rose, 31, is on trial in the High Court at Hamilton on 61 charges of sexual violation, indecently assaulting children under 12, making objectionable publications, possessingobjectionable material and inducing young persons to commit indecent acts.
The charges against Rose relate to four girls aged between 3 and 14 at various locations including Palmerston North, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty over a five year period.
Rose was employed to train horses as a track rider and well known in the small circles of the Cambridge equestrian scene.
Her defence to most of the charges is that she was under duress, or compelled, to participate in the sexual abuse by her former partner Andrew Alan Williams.
The 54-year-old Williams pleaded guilty to 56 charges at the start of the trial on Monday.
These offences against 7 victims including eight of rape, along with a raft of charges for sexually violating young girls, indecently assaulting children under 12, making objectionable publications, possessing objectionable material and inducing young persons to commit indecent acts.
This afternoon, Laken Rose admitted five offences of inducing an indecent act against the 14-year-old complainant. The Crown also withdrew four charges of the same nature against the same complainant.
Rose still faces three charges of sexual violation, one of rape and one of an indecent act in relation to the same complainant.
Her defence to those charges were that the sexual acts were consensual, or Rose was compelled under duress by Williams.
The guilty pleas came after 45 minutes of legal discussion between Rose's defence lawyer Philip Morgan, QC, and Anna Pollett, the Crown Solicitor for Tauranga.
The twist in the trial came after videos and still photographs of alleged sexual abuse were shown in court. Earlier in the day, the mother of the three-year-old victim gave evidence.
Williams admitted to violating the little girl on several occasions, including in her bedroom, and filmed the abuse.
In the background of the video, two women can be heard talking. The Crown case is that the women are Laken Rose and the toddler's mother, who were sitting in the lounge next door to the bedroom.
The mother of the three-year-old girl abused by Williams gave evidence today at Rose's trial in the High Court at Hamilton.
She explained how she had struck up a friendship with Rose and the couple would sometimes come over for a cup of tea or coffee at her house.
On one occasion, the young girl wanted to play with Williams with her soft toys and tepee tent inside her bedroom.
They were in there about 20 minutes, said her mother. "Enough time to make and drink a cup of tea." While this was happening, the woman and Laken talked in the living room adjacent to the child's bedroom.
The woman heard the toilet flush and walked down the hallway to check. She opened the bathroom door and heard Williams tell her daughter to wash her hands.
He explained to the girl's mother that the toddler had followed him into the bathroom, which the woman thought was "odd".
Laken Rose was employed as a track rider and well known in Cambridge equestrian circles. Photo / Supplied
On another occasion, Williams was pushing the girl around on her bike while his partner Laken Rose and the mother were inside.
When the mother went to look for them, she found her daughter sitting on Williams and playing a game on an iPhone. They were in a "blindspot" in the security cameras outside the house, said the woman, where she could only see Williams' back.
There was another occasion when her daughter was left in Williams' care, while the woman had a massage with Laken Rose at the mall.
After Laken Rose and Andrew Williams were arrested in May last year on charges of abusing a young girl in the Bay of Plenty, the woman said Laken Rose called her.
"She said she had nothing to do with it," the woman said.
The Crown argues that Rose offended with Williams by sexually exposing young people and grooming them for sexual acts to be carried out by Williams, and on occasions together.
While Rose has pleaded guilty to four charges of inducing a young person to commit an indecent act in relation to that person, she has pleaded not guilty to 61 other charges.
Her defence lawyer, Philip Morgan QC, has previously told the court that Rose admitted participating in some of the sexual abuse, but was compelled to do so by her former partner Williams.
In some cases, Morgan said Rose wasn't present. In relation to a sexual violation charges laid in respect of a teenage girl, Morgan said the sexual encounter was consensual.
Rose would argue she was a "reluctant" spectator and compelled to film it. The judge-alone trial in front of Justice Matthew Muir is scheduled to end next week.
