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A doctor accused of sexually abusing three young girls lived with them at a Coromandel commune in an environment of "total trust".
The 58-year-old - who is no longer able to practise medicine - denied five charges, including one of rape, at a depositions hearing in the Auckland District Court last week.
He was a member of a community set up by 50 shareholders in 1974.
About 15 of the university friends lived permanently on the 1100ha property.
In court documents, the mother of one of his alleged victims described the remote settlement as "idyllic".
Children could come and go as they pleased, play in the trees and orchards and swim in rivers and the sea.
Police said the doctor entertained them with scientific experiments and games.
"The kids would play at his place and it wasn't unusual for them to do this," said the mother.
"It was a total trust environment."
But more than 20 years later, three women alleged the doctor sexually assaulted them when they were as young as five.
Police executed search warrants at his homes in Auckland and the commune.
They laid five charges, two of indecent assault of a girl under 12, rape, attempted rape and inducing an indecent act.
Although the doctor pleaded not guilty to the charges, his lawyer, Peter Winter, conceded that there was a case to answer.
The doctor was committed for trial and Crown prosecutor Phil Hamlin said 10 witnesses would be called.
The court ordered that name suppression be continued until the trial starts and the defendant was remanded on bail to appear at a callover at the High Court next month.
