By NAOMI LARKIN
A Taranaki man found guilty of raping his sister-in-law half a century ago was convicted just last month of raping and indecently assaulting another family member.
In the High Court at New Plymouth yesterday, 77-year-old Lionel Walter Keith Robertson was found guilty of one charge each of indecent assault and rape involving his sister-in-law.
He was acquitted of a second rape count and of procuring an abortion.
The rape and indecency charges were representative.
The trial, which involved sex crimes dating back to 1945, is believed to be the oldest historical sexual abuse trial in the country. Robertson's earlier trial also involved charges of sexual abuse that occurred 24 to 27 years ago.
After the jury returned its verdict yesterday, Justice Tony Randerson lifted suppression of the man's name and the fact that he had been convicted of sex charges last month. He said the suppression orders had been made to ensure that Robertson received a fair trial.
But these reasons, and the defence's concern that lifting the suppression could affect the poor health of Robertson's wife, Deidre Rae Robertson, known as Betty, were now outweighed by public interest.
On November 8, in the same court, Robertson was found guilty of one charge each of rape and indecent assault involving the other complainant. The offences occurred between 1973 and 1976 when she was aged between 10 and 13.
After yesterday's verdict was delivered, the 61-year-old complainant told the Herald she felt sorry for Robertson and Betty, but she knew someone had to take a stand and stop him.
She had decided to tell police about the repeated and prolonged abuse she had suffered after she was approached by the other complainant.
"I want older women like me whose abusers are still alive to not worry about how old those men are.
"People will say 'he's too old now,' but the fact is they don't care about how old you were. He didn't care about how old I was."
The woman had given evidence that Robertson began abusing her when she was 5.
He first arrived at her aunt and uncle's Taranaki farm where she and Betty lived when he was going out with Betty.
By the time she was 8 he was raping her. She said this continued until she became pregnant at 13.
When her aunt and Betty discovered she was pregnant, an appointment was arranged with a Hawera doctor and an abortion was later performed by the doctor's assistant.
The aborted foetus was burned in the household coal-range.
As a defence witness, Betty Robertson said neither she nor Robertson had anything to do with the abortion.
In his summing-up, Justice Randerson told the jurors that they had to disregard the 55-year delay.
"In cases of this kind there is no time limit within which the Crown must bring criminal charges. In the end you have to decide whether the events happened, even if they happened many years ago."
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