Jurors trying a Bay of Plenty man on 50 sex-related charges have been warned by the crown prosecutor not to be intimidated by the size and scope of the trial.
"Some of the evidence you will be hear is harrowing, the court will be asking the utmost of you," crown prosecutor Chris Macklin told the seven women and five men trying the man in the High Court at Rotorua.
He urged them to take what they'd hear on the chin.
The accused, whose name is suppressed for legal reasons, went on trial today emphatically denying each count, some of which are representative, meaning they allegedly happened more than once.
Macklin described the charges as the defendant tearing apart his alleged victim's years from a young age.
Initially, because she was so young, he was confident she wouldn't tell anyone what he was doing to her but as she grew older she became defiant, telling him he was getting in the way of a her forming meaningful relationships with other men.
However he'd physically force himself on her with kicks and slaps when, out of fear, she would give in to him.
"At other times he'd confide intimate secrets to her and treat her as a lover, he was a confusing dynamic throughout her teenage years," Macklin said.
In a brief opening statement for the defence, lawyer Martin Hine said the defendant viewed the allegations against him as vile, repulsive and delusions of his accuser's mind.
"My client says they are totally untrue and fictional," he told the jury.
He added the defendant denied ever sexually violating or raping the alleged victim and was adamant an intentional injury charge claiming he threw a knife at her was completely and utterly false.
Giving evidence by closed circuit TV the complainant described her childhood as hard.
"There were some amazing times but there were also the most horrible times of my life. The amazing times were with my family ... I will never get back what I lost," she wept.
Pressed by prosecutor Macklin she said the horrible times began when the defendant started to abuse her, saying it was like it was yesterday.
After breaking down as she described her first alleged sexual encounter with the defendant, Justice Matthew Palmer adjourned the trial at her request late this afternoonuntil tomorrowto give her time to compose herself.
The charges the defendant faces are one of indecent assault on a child, 25 sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, 17 of sexual violation by rape, two of injuring with intent, two of assaulting a female, two of indecent assault and one of assault with intent to commit sexual violation.
The trial is set down for two weeks.