A Whangarei man indecently assaulted two girls on a quadbike nearly two decades ago, a jury has heard.
Stephen Ham, 44, is on trial in the Whangarei District Court on three charges of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 12, two of indecency with a girl under the age of 12, and one of indecency with a girl under 16.
The three girls he allegedly indecently assaulted in Whangarei in the late 1990s were not related and were aged between 7 and 15 at the time.
Opening the Crown case before a jury of five women and seven yesterday, Crown prosecutor Catherine Anderson said Ham's alleged offending came to light when one of the girls told her mother and a police complaint was made in 2013.
Judge John McDonald advised the jury to decide the case solely on evidence before the court. He said no adverse inference should be drawn from the fact the complainants would give their evidence through CCTV, as Parliament had directed such an arrangement should be put in place in cases involving alleged sexual abuse.