A Dunedin 85-year-old who allegedly abused six girls over the course of two decades exhibited "a pattern of behaviour", the Crown says.
Murray Oscar Kannewischer has spent the last week on trial before the Dunedin District Court after denying 23 sexual charges.
Yesterday, after the Crown called its last witness, two charges of indecency were dismissed by Judge Michael Crosbie for lack of evidence.
Counsel John Westgate said his client opted not to give or call evidence.
In his closing he said the fact two of the charges in relation to one complainant had been dropped was "very important".
"That directly affects her overall reliability and credibility," Mr Westgate said.
He told the jury there were a variety of reasons which meant they could not be convinced of Kannewischer’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
"Suspicion is not enough."
Evidence from the complainants was either completely unreliable, vague, inconsistent, illogical, was unbelievable or exaggerated, Mr Westgate said.
One woman he said, claimed to have been molested, yet gave no evidence of how it felt."That is not a peripheral matter, that is right at the issue ... and she didn’t say a thing," he said.
He was critical of another complainant who allowed Kannewischer contact with her children in the years after the alleged abuse.
Why would she do that, Mr Westgate questioned, if the accusations were true?In closing the prosecution case, Craig Power said the issue of memory would be pertinent since the complainants had discussed incidents more than 50 years old.
"Our memories do fade but you still do remember things that happen in our lives in your childhood," he said.
"Significant events, emotional events, unusual events; common-sense life experience might tell you those things we do remember."
Mr Power said there were no significant inconsistencies to cause the jury concern.
"Their evidence has that ring of truth, that ring of consistency about it," he said.
"There’s no reason why you can’t convict. There’s no reason why you can’t be sure, just because there’s been a length of time, just because they were talking about events when they were children."
He alerted the jury to commonalities in the evidence given by the complainants.
One said Kannewischer raped her while his wife was in hospital giving birth.
Another also said she was abused when the woman was receiving medical treatment on another occasion.
At least four of the witnesses claimed the defendant had performed indecent acts on them while he was intoxicated.
Mr Power said jurors could use the similarities to corroborate complainants’ claims. During the trial some witnesses spoke about what Kannewischer said.He allegedly told two the abuse would help them become a woman, asking others "does that feel good?".
"Those phrases, ... that’s just not something you’d make up," he said.
"We’re talking about real events here".
Judge Crosbie will sum up today before the jury retires to deliberate.