Olympian Arthur Parkin's teen sex trial: 'A hidden, dirty little secret'

Arthur Parkin's trial is being heard in the Auckland District Court this week. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A woman who claims Olympic gold medallist Arthur Parkin sexually abused her as a child says it was "a hidden, dirty little secret".

Parkin's counsel Arthur Fairley is continuing to cross-examine the first of three complainants today after the 65-year-old former Black Stick's jury trial began yesterday in the Auckland District Court.

Parkin faces five charges for indecent assault on a girl under 12 and indecent assault on a girl aged between 12 and 16.

The alleged offending occurred between 1975 and 1983 in Whangarei, Auckland and Coromandel when Parkin was a well-known name for his sporting feats.

Yesterday, the woman described Parkin as one of her childhood heroes, but that he assaulted her at a Northland beach during the summer of 1975-76 and at a home.

"He was my hero. Arthur Parkin - the great gold medallist. All the kids wanted to play hockey like him, I wanted to play hockey like him," she said.

Today she said the alleged abuse against her was "a hidden, dirty little secret for most of my life" that she hid from her family.

"He knows the truth and I know the truth," she said.

"However you [Fairley] want to twist it and change it. It happened, sir, and that's all I want to say."

The second complainant began her evidence this afternoon and recalled one of two incidents when Parkin lay down beside her as she watched The Adventures of Tintin on television.

"Arthur came into the lounge room," she said.

"I was in a sleeping bag and Arthur put his hands inside the sleeping bag.

"I didn't know what to say or how to say anything. I think Arthur just stopped and got up and left," she said, adding Parkin told her he was feeling cold.

During another incident, she alleged Parkin gestured to her to come and sit on his thigh before forcing her to touch him.

"I didn't know what to do or what to say, he was the grown-up," she said.

"I do remember he said, 'I'm sorry'.

"What do you do in a situation like that? I just switched off."

She told the court she initially declined filing charges against Parkin because it would likely break-up the Olympian's marriage and "it would be my fault".

"Not very logical," she said of her decision.

"In the back of my head I thought 'what happened to me wasn't as bad as what happened to other people ... Just deal with it'. I thought I should just suck it up."

However, when she did come forward with her allegations she said it was to protect other children, including her daughter.

"I had a civic duty to close the loop and to speak up," she said.

"I also looked at my daughter and thought 'that was me and I can't let that happen to anyone else.'."

She said she later confronted Parkin about what he had allegedly done to her as a child and "wanted to shout and scream and get angry".

"But I wasn't able to do that, because he said 'sorry'."

Arthur Parkin (front right, number 13) pictured during a hockey test against Australia in September 1977. Photo / NZ Herald

Crown prosecutor Fiona Culliney said Parkin abused the young girls on separate occasions.

The trio did not mention the alleged abuse to anyone for years, Culliney said.

Two of the complainants were encouraged to lay a complaint with police by a person close to Parkin and police began investigating in 2016.

A third complainant came forward after seeing media reports about the allegations.

Parkin is regarded as one of the country's most celebrated hockey players and was a three-time Olympian.

He won gold as part of the Black Sticks team at the 1976 Montreal Games.

In 1990 he was admitted to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame for his hockey feats.