Arthur Parkin's trial is being heard in the Auckland District Court this week. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Arthur Parkin's trial is being heard in the Auckland District Court this week. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A woman who claims Olympic gold medallist Arthur Parkin sexually abused her as a child says it was "a hidden, dirty little secret".
Parkin's counsel Arthur Fairley is continuing to cross-examine the first of three complainants today after the 65-year-old former Black Stick's jury trial began yesterday inthe Auckland District Court.
Parkin faces five charges for indecent assault on a girl under 12 and indecent assault on a girl aged between 12 and 16.
The alleged offending occurred between 1975 and 1983 in Whangarei, Auckland and Coromandel when Parkin was a well-known name for his sporting feats.
Yesterday, the woman described Parkin as one of her childhood heroes, but that he assaulted her at a Northland beach during the summer of 1975-76 and at a home.
"However you [Fairley] want to twist it and change it. It happened, sir, and that's all I want to say."
The second complainant began her evidence this afternoon and recalled one of two incidents when Parkin lay down beside her as she watched The Adventures of Tintin on television.
"Arthur came into the lounge room," she said.
"I was in a sleeping bag and Arthur put his hands inside the sleeping bag.
"I didn't know what to say or how to say anything. I think Arthur just stopped and got up and left," she said, adding Parkin told her he was feeling cold.
During another incident, she alleged Parkin gestured to her to come and sit on his thigh before forcing her to touch him.
"I didn't know what to do or what to say, he was the grown-up," she said.
"I do remember he said, 'I'm sorry'.
"What do you do in a situation like that? I just switched off."
She told the court she initially declined filing charges against Parkin because it would likely break-up the Olympian's marriage and "it would be my fault".
"In the back of my head I thought 'what happened to me wasn't as bad as what happened to other people ... Just deal with it'. I thought I should just suck it up."
However, when she did come forward with her allegations she said it was to protect other children, including her daughter.
"I had a civic duty to close the loop and to speak up," she said.
"I also looked at my daughter and thought 'that was me and I can't let that happen to anyone else.'."
She said she later confronted Parkin about what he had allegedly done to her as a child and "wanted to shout and scream and get angry".
