Man accused of 'sadistic' sexual abuse of children

By CLIO FRANCIS - Stuff

Last updated 09:01 01/07/2010

A staff member at a school for troubled children is accused of subjecting three pupils to "sadistic" sexual abuse, and of burning one with cigarettes and firing a staple gun at him.

The man is charged with sexually abusing a nine-year-old boy and with indecently assaulting two 12-year-old girls. The children all attended the Waimokoia Residential School in Auckland during the 1980s.

A second trial for the man, who has interim name suppression, began in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

The first trial was stopped last year and the reason has been suppressed. The man is facing 25 charges relating to the physical and sexual abuse of three pupils between 1984 and 1987.

Crown prosecutor Tiffany Robertson told the court the man had engaged "in . . . physical violence which had sexual overtones".

One of the complainants initially complained to police in 1996, but for "reasons unknown" police had closed the file without the complainant's knowledge. The investigation was reopened in 2006 when one of the female complainants came forward.

The offending against the male complainant had begun when he was nine and had grown "progressively more sadistic" over the year he was at the school, Ms Robertson said.

Much of the offending would happen at night when the boy was in his bedroom. The man would try to wake the boy and then punch him in the face. Other sexual offending had taken place in the school's "time-out" room, which was often used for disciplining children.

On one occasion a staple gun and other implements were used to hurt the boy, Ms Robertson said. "He [the accused] would fire the gun at different parts of the boy's body. He would also hit him with a chair leg." It is claimed an attempt was made to staple the boy's penis to a chair.

On another occasion, the boy was burnt with a cigarette on his hands and neck, "scars which are still evident to this day", Ms Robertson said.

One of female complainants said she had been indecently assaulted by the man in her room, on the school bus and in the school toilet block. She had also been made to watch pornographic films with the man in the school's lounge when the other children had gone to bed.

Another female complainant was allegedly raped in the school sick-bay.

The man's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, said the allegations were not true. "They simply did not happen."

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3873706/Man-accused-of-sadistic-sexual-abuse-of-children