Mum says she can't recall daughters' claims

Whanganui District Courthouse PHOTO/FILE

As he entered the witness stand in court yesterday, a Wanganui man stared wide-eyed at Daniel Bell, the 39-year-old on trial for alleged sexual abuse against children.

The witness, who had to be reminded to focus on the lawyers, was emotional as he spoke to Crown prosecutor Harry Mallalieu and defence lawyer Fergus Steedman about how he used to trust Bell. He has not seen the accused since before April last year, when he discovered his daughters had allegedly been indecently assaulted.

The two girls gave evidence in the High Court at Whanganui on Thursday that Bell had touched them inappropriately on a number of occasions when they were young.

Both complainants said they told their mother about the alleged abuse several years ago, but the mother said in evidence she did not remember being told.

"You know in your heart of hearts that if [the complainant] said something to you five years ago, you would never have forgotten that," Mr Steedman said.

The mother agreed her daughters must not have told her when they said they did, as she would have remembered, but recalled being told something about Bell touching their legs.

"I didn't know the full story back then," she said. "I thought it could have been a game or something."

The mother said the girls told her about the abuse in April 2014, and she then told their father, and they decided to notify police. A couple of weeks later, a friend showed up in tears saying their child had been raped by Bell. It was then, the witness said, that she went to police about her own daughters' claims.

Mr Steedman was "cynical" about the timing of events.

"Lawyers are taught sometimes that we need to be cynical about coincidences . . . it does sound as though it's not right. It's too big a coincidence, isn't it?"

The mother insisted that was how it happened.

The children's father contradicted the mother while giving evidence, saying he first heard about the friend's daughter's alleged rape before his daughters made their claims.

He said his partner went to their daughters and talked to them after the other friend's news.

Bell faces 32 charges of sexual abuse against eight young girls. The charges include 12 counts of rape, three counts of unlawful sexual connection, and 17 counts of indecent assault.

He has already admitted one charge of indecency against a girl aged 12-16.

The court heard earlier this week about alleged sexual offending against a 4-year-old girl.