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Martin De Ruyter/Stuff
A grandfather who assaulted his granddaughter was sentenced at the Nelson District Court.
With level 4 lockdown looming, the family of a 12-year-old girl thought she’d be safe at her grandparents’ rural home. But two weeks later, her grandfather assaulted her.
The 73-year-old man, earlier found guilty by a jury on two charges of performing an indecent act, was sentenced to home detention in the Nelson District Court on Friday.
His name has been suppressed to protect his victim’s identity.
Judge Tony Zohrab described the incident, which took place at the Tasman district lifestyle block where the man lives with his wife.
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The child and her family lived overseas, but had returned to New Zealand for a wedding in Wellington. On 23 March 2020, as the clock ticked down towards the Level 4 lockdown, the family sent the girl and her 9-year-old brother to stay with their grandparents.
As retired school teachers living rurally, who rarely got a chance to spend time with their grandchildren, it was “not surprising” the family decided the move was in the children’s best interests, Zohrab said.
On 10 April, the grandfather and the two children stayed overnight in an outdoor hut they had built. While there, the man kissed his granddaughter on the neck and breast, and whispered to her that he “loved her curves”.
The following day, the girl sent a video message to her father, telling him what had happened. The video, which became evidence in court, showed the girl was “clearly distressed”, Zohrab said.
Lockdown conditions meant it took several days for the children to get back to their mother, Zohrab said.
Crown prosecutor Jeremy Cameron read the girl’s victim impact statement aloud.
“I think of myself as a happy and fun-loving person and a lot of that got damaged that weekend,” Cameron read.
“My innocence got damaged, my childhood got damaged. I was forced to become an adult before I was ready to.”
She described the family rift that eventuated, her feelings of loneliness, and resorting to self harm to cope.
Despite still feeling the effects three years later, she wanted to forgive her grandfather. “I don’t want this thing to define me,” she said.
The girl’s mother, appearing via audiovisual link, spoke directly to the man.
“You’re the monster hiding under the bed that every parent wants to protect their children from,” she told him. “You pretended to be upstanding, you were even a headmaster. How very dare you.”
Cameron deemed the offending a “breach of trust against a highly vulnerable victim”, and referenced a report that showed the grandfather’s “lack of remorse and insight”.
Judge Zohrab said the man’s status as a trusted grandparent made the offending against a child isolated from her parents more egregious.
“[As a teacher], his position and professional training would mean he was more aware than others would be of the effects of such offending.”
“[The girl] is clearly an intelligent young person … your account differed from hers, but in my view the evidence against you was overwhelming. She was an impressive witness.”
Zohrab sentenced the man to 16 months home detention. He was ordered to not have contact with any person under 16.
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