An Invercargill man accused of indecently assaulting two 14-year-old girls gave them drugs before he assaulted them, a court heard yesterday.
A jury trial before Judge Duncan Harvey began in the Invercargill District Court yesterday.
Crown lawyer Riki Donnelly in his opening said the offending was alleged to have happened at Tiwai Point and other parts of Southland on August 20 and 21, 2020.
The man had taken both girls, who had sneaked out of their homes, for a drive late at night on August 14. There were no accusations of anything sexual happening on that occasion.
However, it was on the second drive about a week later that the alleged offending occurred.
In a police interview played in court, the first girl said the man, who was known to her, picked her up about 11pm on August 20. They then collected her friend.
On the way to Tiwai Point the two girls went for a swim in their underwear and the man joined in.
He had given the girls 300mg of Gabapentin (an anti-convulsive drug), she said.
It was while back in the car he began rubbing her leg.
“Getting higher up my leg, getting closer and closer.”
They went to Stirling Point and Bluff Hill where further touching happened to both girls, she said.
After the girl’s friend had been taken home, the touching continued, she said.
“His hands were touching underneath my underwear, around and in.”
In all he touched her genitalia about 10 times, she said.
As he drove the car, the man pulled his pants down and then got the girl to touch him, and he also pulled her on his lap while he was driving, the girl said in her interview.
It was then he touched her all over her body both on top and underneath her clothes, she said.
In his opening yesterday, the man’s lawyer Hugo Young said while they did all go for a drive on the night in question, none of the sexual offending took place.
When questioning the girl yesterday, Mr Young asked her why she would get back in the front seat of the car after she had already been assaulted.
She said she was in shock and scared the accused would get angry.
The girl said she tried to curl up in a ball in the front passenger seat of the car facing away from him so he could not touch her.
She said the man continued to drive when he touched her, made her touch him and when he pulled her on to him.
“He did all of those while he was driving the vehicle. Yeah, it was terrifying.”
The trial, which is expected to take four to five days, continues.
- By Karen Pasco, PIJF court reporter
