The teenage girl believed if she said 'no', she would lose her coaching. Photo / 123rf
The teenage girl believed if she said 'no', she would lose her coaching. Photo / 123rf
WARNING: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault and may be upsetting to some readers.
A concerned mother testified that her children’s sports coach ignored a 14-year-old girl’s apparent infatuation with him and reacted aggressively when she questioned the girl sleeping over with him.
“He basically said ‘f*** the police, I don’t care what they think and I’ll do what I want,’” the woman said while giving evidence at the sports coach’s trial.
The coach and business owner is currently before a jury at the Whangārei District Court for six charges of indecent assault on an under 16-year-old and unlawful sexual connection.
The man, whose identity and business’ name is suppressed, trained several teenagers and reportedly took the girl under his wing as he believed she was talented.
As she progressed in the sport, their time together grew, including situations where they allegedly had dinner together and watched movies.
The Crown alleges the man’s offending began with massaging her back and front. Over three months it’s alleged it progressed to a more serious incident of digitally penetrating her.
The girl was 14 at the time and said in an evidential interview played in court that she did not think the alleged incidents were serious enough to report.
She said the massages were frequent and as the alleged acts grew in nature, and with nationals approaching, she was too scared to say ‘no’ for fear of losing his coaching.
The girl said his attitude towards her changed when she declined the alleged offer of a secret relationship.
“He was acting off and that’s what I was scared of, if I said no I wouldn’t be able to carry on with [sport].
“I wanted to please him,” she said.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer John Munro, text messages were presented between the pair for the year following the alleged incidents.
Most of the texts were the girl reaching out to her coach to organise training which Munro said were not the actions of a person trying to avoid someone.
The girl, who was a national title holder, responded he was still her coach and she depended on his guidance.
“You want him to be there though, isn’t that the point?” Munro asked.
“He’s my coach and the only one I could think of,” she responded.
The jury trial is before Judge Gene Tomlinson at the Whangārei District Court. Photo / NZME
Munro put to the complainant she was obsessed with him and set about spreading rumours after she saw he was back together with his girlfriend.
Two parents of team members gave evidence on Friday of their observations between the two, with both saying it was obvious the girl was infatuated with him.
She said the coach played favourites with the girl and did nothing to quash the concerning behaviour of a 14-year-old girl towards a grown man.
“I was a bit concerned as a mother’s perspective, I didn’t think it was appropriate that she had a crush on the teacher and he didn’t do anything to put it to rest or put it to bed. He basically carried on letting her behave like that and didn’t stop it,” she told the court.
The parents said their children would stay over at the coach’s place with the complainant, sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
But one day they realised the girl had stayed overnight with the coach on her own.
Parents became concerned when they realised the 14-year-old had spend the night with the coach alone. Photo / 123rf
The woman said to the girl it was obvious she had a crush on the coach and questioned whether her mother knew she had stayed the night.
The girl responded “yes” and when the mother said she would talk to her, the girl began to get upset.
After that interaction, the coach became angry at the conversation she had with the teenager and a heated argument ensued.
“He was quite loud in his tone toward me, he was quite rude, it was like he was trying to blame me for stuff but I was only talking to her as a concerned mother, it didn’t look good,” she told the court.
The woman said she told the coach it was not a good look and the police would take a different view.
“He basically said ‘F*** the police, I don’t care what they think. I’ll do what I want',” she told the court.
Under cross-examination, Munro questioned why the comment about the police was not in her formal statement to which she responded she had removed it because she was fearful of retaliation in a small town.
Her husband also gave evidence saying the coach was putting the team in a dangerous situation which could have potentially affected his business..
“It rubbed us up the wrong way. She shouldn’t be there, it’s not on.
“Not only it’s not right, but there was a selfish component, it could have influenced our children’s access to the sport.
“It’s not what a coach should be doing having a young person staying over,” he said.
The trial continues today before Judge Gene Tomlinson.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
