A senior policeman acquitted by a jury of raping a young girl may yet lose his job as he faces a charge of misconduct within the police.
The officer, whose name is suppressed, originally faced three charges of raping the 13-year-old girl when he went on trial inthe High Court at Christchurch in April.
Two of the charges were dropped during the trial, before the jury found the man not guilty of the remaining charge.
During the trial, evidence was presented about the policeman - a friend of the girl's family - allowing the girl to sleep in his bed and sending dozens of text messages in a day.
At the conclusion of the trial, Justice Graham Panckhurst said the nature of the evidence gave him pause before granting name suppression to the officer.
"I shall not go into the detail of that evidence.
"It is sufficient to say that some of the conduct in which the accused had been involved did impress me as being a matter of legitimate public interest, particularly for someone who is a serving police officer."
Inspector Neil Banks told the Herald that as the result of an internal police investigation, the officer was to face a misconduct charge, to be heard by a tribunal.
This tribunal, usually comprised of Queen's Counsel, would then make a finding to be passed on to the Commissioner of Police.
