Father denies rape charges

The father of a woman who says her parents raped her and induced her to do indecent acts denied today the alleged incidents ever happened.

The father, who has name suppression, was giving evidence at his trial in the High Court at Auckland.

His daughter says she was raped and forced to perform indecent acts on her parents, who also have name suppression, when she was a young girl.

Her father, 62, is charged with two counts of rape and one of inducing his daughter, aged under 12 at the time, to do an indecent act.

Her mother, 62, is charged with inducing the daughter to do an indecent act.

Both parents are jointly charged with two counts of inducing her to do an indecent act.

The charges relate to alleged incidents between January 23, 1978 and January 23, 1981, at a township near Gisborne.

The Crown alleges a series of sexual assaults occurred at the family home when the girl was aged between seven and 10.

It said in one of the incidents, the father ordered her to take her clothes off and perform an indecent act while he and a friend watched.

He also raped his daughter in a caravan on the property and in her parents' bedroom, it alleged.

But the father said "none of that ever happened", when questioned by his lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith.

Mr Wilkinson-Smith told the jury that the allegations were simply not true.

"These allegations may seem bizarre, unusual and strange. They are the product of an unhappy and troubled mind, affected by the use of the powerful drug, methamphetamine," he said.

Mr Wilkinson-Smith asked the man about his daughter's visits from Auckland to Gisborne in 2006.

"She'd changed from what she used to be like. She looked terrible and was very gaunt," the accused man said.

"She was erratic. She'd sleep a lot, and she'd go to bed at odd hours of the day. I've never seen anyone sleep so long."

Mr Wilkinson-Smith asked the man about his daughter's energy levels.

"She would just tear around everywhere excessively quickly. She wanted to go back to Auckland but we tried to keep her in Gisborne to get her well," her father said.

He added that his daughter visited them in Gisborne two or three times over 12 months in 2006.

Shortly after her grandmother's funeral, she made the allegations about her parents sexually abusing her, the jury was told.

Mr Wilkinson-Smith said the allegations were made when their daughter tried to wean herself off methamphetamine.

"Methamphetamine is at the core of this case. It's the only real evil that happened to this family," he said.

He said the daughter was quite an unstable person, whose evidence was untruthful and unreliable.

Adam Simperingham, for the mother, said she absolutely denied the allegations against her.

He told the jurors it would be up to them whether they believe what the complainant said was reliable, and whether it fitted with other events.

The trial, with Justice Douglas White presiding, continues.

- NZPA