Young girl raped and sexually abused by trusted grandfather for two years, court hears

A trusted grandfather figure raped and sexually abused a vulnerable young girl over a two-year period, Whanganui District Court heard as the man went on trial. Photo / 123RF

Warning: this article discusses sexual assault and may be distressing for some readers.

A sinister side to the man a young girl knew as “granddad” emerged after bedtime and his alleged sexual offending spanned a two-year period, a court has heard.

The 53-year-old defendant, who has name suppression and is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing the victim between 2015 and 2017, went on trial in the Whanganui District Court on Monday before Judge Jonathan Krebs and a jury of five men and seven women.

He has pleaded not guilty to six charges, four of unlawful sexual violation, and one each of indecent assault and rape, which took place in a South Taranaki town when the victim, who legally can’t be named, was aged between seven and nine years old.

In his opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Rufus Hancock said the young girl went to live with the defendant, who had previously been in a relationship with her biological grandmother, near the end of 2015.

“The defendant has offered to provide day-to-day care of the victim,” Rufus said.

“She knew him as ‘granddad’.”

Hancock said the Crown alleged during the time the young girl lived with the man and his teenage son, he had repeatedly sexually abused her.

“He would come and wake her up and take her into his bed.

”She describes it happening every night.”

He said the victim was subjected to a range of sexual activity including kissing and licking of her chest and neck area, had her genitals touched, was forced to perform oral sex on him, and rape.

At the time, her abuser told her to keep quiet about what was happening.

The victim later returned to live in the South Island with her mother, and after learning about how to recognise sexual abuse in school, she disclosed the sex acts she suffered at the hands of the offender, Rufus said.

A police investigation was launched and, after being interviewed on video by two specialists on different occasions, the defendant was arrested and charged.

The two video interviews, done a month apart, would be played for the jury.

Defence lawyer Megan Jaquiery asked the jury to keep one word in mind during the trial - “suggestibility”.

“A state where a person accepts [the] suggestions of others and acts accordingly,” Jaquiery said.

She described the victim as a troubled kid who was exposed at a young age to horrific things, including domestic violence.

The victim’s mother was young at the time and not coping, so had sent her daughter to live with the defendant, who was known as a “trusted grandfather”, Jaquiery said.

“It’s not the defendant asking to have her, it’s the mother who asked him.”

The defence’s position was the allegations were simply not true, she said.

Jacquiery acknowledged the case had the “ick factor”, but implored the jury to put any sympathy or prejudice aside and listen to not only what the victim says in the videos, but also how she says it, what she doesn’t say and how the story changes between the two interviews.

“What she is saying snowballs with the encouragement of others.”

The trial is set down for four days.