Dad was 'teaching daughter about sex' | News.com.au

Dad was 'teaching daughter about sex' | News.com.auA MONSTER STORY

AN elderly New Zealand man has appeared in court accused of 34 crimes including raping his daughter, forcing his children to have sex with one another, repeatedly beating them and killing their pet cats.
The 78-year-old pensioner from the North Island, who has interim name suppression, went on trial in Palmerston North District Court yesterday, facing charges relating to almost three decades of alleged assault and sexual abuse, NZPA reported.
The charges, which the man denies, include 11 allegations of rape against five different women or girls, the Dominion Post reported today.
On six occasions the alleged victims were aged between 12 and 16-years-old.
The man's lawyer, Fergus Steedman, urged a jury of six men and six women not to make any decisions about his client based on the crown's grim re-telling of events.
"There may be times when you want to hit him and there may be times when you hate me, too, as I challenge the evidence," Mr Steedman told the court.
"You may react emotively ... but I ask that you deal with that now. It's okay to act that way provided you keep an open mind."
The alleged crimes took place between 1963 and 1990 as the man and his family shifted around eight lower North Island cities and towns, according to the Dominion Post.
Three of his children are among the eight people who made complaints against him. Another three are due to give evidence in his defence.
The other alleged victims are the man's former partner's niece, a school friend of his daughter and the former girlfriends of both his sons.
All have name suppression.
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As well as rapes, the man is charged with attempted rape, indecent assault, assault with intent to injure and cruelty to children.
During a lengthy opening statement today, Crown Prosecutor Chris Shannon outlined details of what the man was accused of doing.
This included sexually assaulting some of the children under the guise of a medical examination or teaching them about sex, forcing his son to have sex with his daughter by saying he had a gun and attempting to hit his eldest son with his car, before threatening to get a gun and shoot him.
Mr Shannon also accused the man of allowing a farmhand to take his youngest son away to the milking shed for oral sex and killing two of his children's pet cats in front of them.
Some members of the jury appeared visibly upset as the details were recounted, the Dominion Post reported.
The court was shown a video of a police interview, in which the man repeatedly denied the events ever took place.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Fergus Steedman asked the woman why it took her until 2009 to tell police about the attempted rape.
The woman said past complaints had "fallen on deaf ears" with police and social workers, so she gave up.
Eight people have laid complaints against the man, three of them his children.
However, another three of the man's children are due to give evidence in his defence during the trial, which is expected to last three weeks.