Trial starts for Whangārei man accused of sexually abusing stepchildren

The man is on trial on 40 charges of indecent assault and sexual violation. Photo / NZME

WARNING: This article deals with sexual abuse and may be upsetting to some readers.

A man has been accused of sexually abusing his two stepchildren before moving on to one of his grandchildren during a 30-year period.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the victims’ identities, is facing 40 charges at the Whangārei District Court, including indecently assaulting a girl aged under 12, sodomy and committing an indecent act on a boy under 12 and under 16.

During the start of his trial today, the jury heard that the man met the children’s mother in the late 1970s and they eventually lived together just north of Whangārei.

Crown lawyer Mike Smith said the man would sneak into the young boy and girl’s bedroom, pull back the bedcovers and touch them inappropriately.

Smith said the girl raised the alarm with her mother years into the offending but was not believed.

“She called him out after her mother asked, ‘Why are you so mean to your stepfather?’

“She told her mother, ‘Because he’s doing things to me.’

“She wasn’t believed and, although no action was taken, [the offending] did stop around that time.”

The Crown said the girl’s alert was enough to keep the man away from her. However, his alleged offending continued on the boy, who recalled being abused on multiple occasions, including at the man’s work and an abandoned coal mine.

The man has also been charged with sexually violating his step-granddaughter up until 2010.

“The focus must be, and will be, on did it happen?” Smith told the jury.

Defence lawyer Todd Luders told the jury the defendant simply did not do the things alleged.

“He is not guilty of every single one of these charges. Not at places of work, not on machinery, not at home, not anywhere, not ever.”

Luders said the jury needed to determine whether the complainants were reliable and credible.

“Do you believe them? Are you sure this happened as it says to have happened?”

The trial is before Judge Keith de Ridder and is expected to last seven days.

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.