A Hastings man accused of drugging and sexually violating a 14-year-old girl was last night found guilty of injuring her with reckless disregard for her safety by infecting her with hepatitis C, but cleared of three charges of sexual violation and one count of threatening to kill.
A jury of six
men and six women spent more than five hours deliberating before returning at 8.30pm with the verdict.
Sean Leslie Riley, a sickness beneficiary and part-time builder, was found guilty on only one of five charges stemming from the alleged drugging and sexual violation of the teenager in December 2005. Justice Denis Clifford remanded him for sentencing on August 3.
The High Court at Napier heard evidence from the girl that Riley had been renovating her mother's house, when he gave her a drink of water which made her feel "dizzy". She said Riley injected her from a syringe taken from his truck before taking her to a new property and injecting her five more times in a shed. He allegedly used the same needle to inject both himself and the girl.
She said he forced her to perform oral sex on him twice and sexually violated her.
The girl said on the way home Riley threatened that she and her family would be "dead" if she told what happened. She complained to police in May, and medical tests revealed she was infected with hepatitis C.
Riley denied all charges and the defence called his nephew to give evidence. His nephew, who was 15 at the time and helping with the renovations, said he, Riley, and the girl had been to the shed one or two times to collect tools.
He said the girl and Riley were never alone in the shed together and he had never seen anything untoward between the girl and his uncle.
He denied holding the girl's wrist while Riley injected her as she alleged or ever being injected by his uncle as alleged by Riley's estranged wife.
He told the court he had never injected drugs and he did not have hepatitis C.
Eric Forster appeared for the defence and Clayton Walker for the prosecution.
