Grandmother cries over sex claims

Whanganui District Court

The grandmother of three children who claim they were sexually abused apologised for her tears in court yesterday as she talked about the "disgusting" alleged acts.

The woman struggled to read notes she took five years ago, when two of her grandchildren told her they had been molested by Daniel Bell, a man on trial for alleged sexual offending against eight young girls.

Bell faces 32 charges in the High Court at Whanganui, including 12 counts of rape, three of unlawful sexual connections, and 17 of indecent assault.

He has already pleaded guilty to one charge of indecency involving a girl aged 12-16.

Two of the complainants were living with the grandmother when they told her Bell "had sex" with one of them. She reported it to Child Youth and Family and the two girls had evidential interviews on the subject in January 2010.

A couple of weeks after the interviews, the girls disclosed further alleged abuse, the witness told Crown prosecutor Harry Mallalieu. She took notes as they spoke to her, and gave the notes to CYFS.

The witness read over her notes yesterday and told the court about them, crying as she repeated what the girls had told her at the time.

"Sorry, it's just disgusting," she said to Mr Mallalieu, through her tears. She described various alleged offences, including rape and other indecent acts.

The two girls also had a younger sister who gave evidence on Wednesday, saying that Bell had touched her inappropriately.

The girl's father took the witness stand yesterday and said his daughter claimed that she felt sore after the alleged offending.

The father said Bell had always been "overly friendly" with the children.

He said his daughter, who was about 4 when she was allegedly touched, was a truthful child, but had been getting into trouble at school.

She had started putting her hands in children's crotches while they were sitting on the mat.

He told defence lawyer Fergus Steedman he hadn't initially believed his daughter had been touched: "You don't want to believe something like that, do you?"

The complainants' uncle also gave evidence, saying he had once gone to the children's house and Bell had been in the bath with the girls.

The uncle said he heard their voices coming from the bathroom but did not see them in there together.

The children's grandmother also gave evidence of the children being in what Mr Steedman labelled a "hellish living environment".

She took two of the girls into her care around 2009, but one of them was taken away after making a complaint of abuse.

The grandmother said the girl complained to CYFS she had punched her in the face - a claim she said was false.

She said the girl had been following her around the house all day, and she accidentally bumped her in the chin with two of her fingers when she threw her hands up in frustration.

Mr Mallalieu also read evidence from a Hastings doctor who examined two of the girls and found their genitals and hymens "normal" and uninjured. The paediatrician said the majority of examinations for alleged sexual abuse cases produced "normal" results.

The trial continues.