MIS deputy's trial gets under way in Wellington

The trial of Masterton teacher Russell Thompson for indecency got off to an emotional start in Wellington District Court yesterday, as the 12-year-old complainant cried under cross- examination.
Thompson, 46, is accused of touching the girl on the bottom an unspecified number of times between April 1 and May 4 this year, and of kissing her once on the lips on May 4, after she and a friend helped him move some "kapa haka" gear from his office.
Before judge Stephen Harrop and a jury of six men and six women, crown prosecutor Kate Feltham outlined the case against Thompson, who is defended by Paul Paino.
Mr Paino said the case was one of "a false complaint".
The first witness, Child, Youth and Family interviewer Helen Moore, gave evidence of her qualifications and experience in "evidential interviewing" and interviewing with children.
Ms Moore said she had interviewed the complainant at Masterton CYF rooms on May 8.
The videotape of that interview was then played to the court, forming the evidence of the complainant.
The court was cleared of the public for the complainant's evidence, which lasted the rest of the day, because of her age.
While the video played and in cross-examination afterward, the complainant sat in court separated by a screen from Thompson in the dock, but open to the view of the jury and others in the court.
In the tape, the girl told Ms Moore Thompson had asked her to help with a job shifting things at lunchtime, and that she had brought a friend.
They were shifting equipment, including guitars and kapa haka costumes, from Thompson's office to the school's "focus room".
She said the friend had gone back twice for more gear, while she and Thompson stayed to tidy the focus room, and then Thompson had asked the complainant to stay behind to discuss the behaviour of a boy in the complainant's class.
In the times when the two were alone together, the girl said Thompson had teased her, "saying I looked silly" because she had drawn an L on her forehead with felt pen.
"He tried to lick his finger and wipe off the L off my forehead, but I moved away," she said.
"He would, like, stand close to me and I would keep moving away from him."
She said when her friend had returned and the bell rang,
Thompson asked if she would stay behind alone, because "he wanted me to tell him what he should say to a boy in my class" who had been misbehaving.
When they were alone, she said Thompson held both her hands and "he just leaned over and kissed me".
She said she had stepped back and Thompson had said to her "one more". "I looked back and looked him in the eyes and said 'no'."
The complainant said she had walked out of her room and then ran because "I got freaked out" before catching up with her friend.
She said she had told her friend, and later "asked her to tell (another girl) because she's my best friend and I wanted her to know what happened".
After school she had gone to her mother's workplace and told her what happened. The complainant also told Ms Moore that on previous occasions when they were alone together, Thompson had touched her bottom.
In cross-examination, Mr Paino asked questions about what she had told to whom and when.
In her answers the complainant said while she was at her mother's work and waiting in another room, she replied to a text-message from a boy in her class who asked why she had been crying and "explained to him what happened but didn't tell the whole story".
Mr Paino also suggested the reason the complainant had wanted to "tell my parents first" rather than follow her friend's suggestion to go to the principal, was to "get more time".
At one stage the complainant began crying and Mr Paino asked if she would like to take a break, to which she said, "yes" and court was adjourned for five minutes.
Later in the afternoon, Mr Paino was questioning the complainant about when and where the touching on the bottom had occurred, and the complainant, in tears, said: "I don't know, how am I meant to remember this stuff?."
At that point Judge Harrop stopped again for an afternoon tea break.
The day's evidence ended with re-examination from crown prosecutor Kate Feltham. "Are you lying about the things that you've told us today that Mr Thompson did?" Ms Feltham asked.
"No," the complainant replied.
Ms Feltham asked, "are you sure about that? To which the complainant said "yes".