Kāpiti Coast councillor David Scott speaks after he was found guilty of indecent assault.
On paper, Kāpiti Coast district councillor David Scott is a pillar of the community.
But this week has been exposing in more ways than one for the 71-year-old, who found himself in Wellington District Court getting his penis measured with a wooden ruler.
After three and a half hours ofdeliberation a jury of six men and six women found Scott guilty of indecent assault. Judge Peter Hobbs did not enter a conviction at the request of Scott's lawyer.
After the verdict, Kāpiti Mayor K Gurunathan confirmed protocols around Scott were put in place before he was charged with indecent assault.
"This last incident was a situation where the person decided to take it outside of the organisation to a separate authority, meaning taking it to the police."
The indecent assault charge stems from a morning tea after a council meeting in April last year.
In a room surrounded by his colleagues and the mayor, Scott put his hands on the hips of a council staff member and pressed his groin area against her backside.
In his police interview, Scott meticulously painted a picture of the man he sees himself to be.
When asked what his role was at Kāpiti Coast District Council, he told the detective he was a councillor of 10 years who often fought on behalf of the underdog.
Scott said he had spent time on the board of Grey Power New Zealand and volunteered by driving the elderly to hospital.
Kāpiti Coast councillor David Scott was found guilty of indecent assault at a jury trial. Photo / Mark Mitchell
He asked the detective if she wanted to know about his early life or more about what he did now. She told him what he did now would be more relevant.
Scott went on to say he was a Justice of the Peace and a teacher who had received many awards for his service more than three decades ago.
He also listed his various academic qualifications before getting to the point when he was elected.
The complainant in the case said she met Scott early on in her tenure with the council and there was nothing notable about their first meeting.
But following that she said he tried to make contact with her on several occasions.
"My understanding is he would be quite frustrated if I wasn't available to take his call or he would arrive at council offices expecting to see me and be frustrated if I wasn't available to meet with him."
She said some of those occasions included emails asking her to order stationery or print documents, which left her feeling confused because she did not think those tasks were consistent with her job.
The complainant said Scott told her she had him to thank for her role at the council.
"I just suggested I prefer to believe I got the role on my merits rather than because of any advocacy on his behalf", she said.
The employee said Scott spoke to her before the assault, after she got a plate of sausage rolls at the morning tea.
"He suggested that women shouldn't be eating sausage rolls, they should be eating salad", she said.
Scott grasped at an array of medical reasons to argue why he could not have possibly committed the indecent assault.
He outlined one of them in an email he sent to the complainant after she contacted him saying she was no longer prepared to deal with him directly.
"I wish you had said something to me at the time and I would have explained my cancer and recent operation on my genitals, which makes any contact in that area extremely painful. When my stitches are gone I may not have to protect that area."
Crown witness Dr Bernard Cammack said stitches following the circumcision operation would have taken about three weeks to absorb.
He expected general healing time would take about a month, if there were no complications.
Cammack said he saw Scott several times between the beginning of December 2016 and the date of the indecent assault.
He said on none of those occasions was there a reference in his notes about any issues after Scott's operation and it was only during this period Scott started insulin treatment for diabetes.
Giving evidence, Scott accepted he had never been told by a medical professional there was a cancerous growth on the area of his penis which was removed.
After the guilty verdict, council chief executive Wayne Maxwell said he had not asked for Scott to resign as there was a process that had to be followed.
Scott said he wanted to continue working as a councillor, and has received hundreds of messages of support asking him to carry on.
