A trial has collapsed after a 14-year-old girl admitted telling a series of lies, including a story she made up about her father selling her for a sex attack, a court was told today.
Her 37-year-old father and 33-year-old mother, who both have name suppression, pleaded guilty to their amended charges, which were read out in court before the jury was discharged.
Between them, they now face a neglect charge and four of assault.
They have eight children.
They are charged with cruelty to four of their eldest children, neglecting them in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering and failing to provide them with an adequate home environment with regard to hygiene and clean housing.
The mother's amended charge included failing to act to deter or prevent the children from being hit by their father.
This charge related to events between January 1, 2005, and September 5, 2007.
The man is also charged with assaulting his then 12-year-old daughter with repeated blows with a broom and punches to the stomach.
He is charged with assaulting his son by punching him to the stomach. Both charges relate to events between July 1, 2007, and September 5, 2007.
He is also charged with assaulting two of his children between January 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007.
The woman was remanded on bail and the man was remanded in custody until sentencing on September 17.
Their daughter, who has name suppression, was the first of five children who gave evidence at the High Court at Auckland via CCTV from an adjacent room.
Yesterday, the girl told the court that a sexual assault arranged by her father for $40 was all lies to get him in trouble.
During her police interview in September 2007, the girl said she saw her father talking to three men at McDonald's in Manukau.
He then forced her to go to the men, who placed her up against a wall in a Farmers car park and held her there while she was sexually assaulted.
But later during cross-examination by Paul Borich, defending her father, she said the whole incident was not true.
The girl admitted she told a series of lies in her interview.
"Yesterday you broke the camera in the interview room and took off out the door because you didn't want to watch the police interview again. Did you do some damage to the toilets?" Mr Borich asked her.
"Yes", she said.
She said she told lies about her father snorting "white stuff" off the table.
"Did you want the interviewer to think it was P?", Paul Borich, defending her father, asked.
The girl replied that she did not know, and she had just said it was "white stuff".
Jo Scott, defending the girl's mother, asked her about what she'd said in the interview about her mother drinking. The girl said she lied about that and her mother did not drink alcohol.
"Would it be fair to say you were naughty sometimes and your Mum and Dad didn't know how to deal with it?", Ms Scott asked the girl.
The girl agreed that was fair.
Crown prosecutor Phil Hamlin asked the girl about a story she made up about her aunties beating her up.
"I said they bashed me. I was nervous about court. I lied," she said.
A jury of eight men and four women was sworn in on Monday for the trial, which was expected to last two weeks.
The girl's sister had been expected to start giving evidence this afternoon before the trial collapsed.
