BSA finds against man who kept daughter as sex slave

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has dismissed a complaint made by a man who kept his daughter as a sex slave for 23 years over a television programme about him.

Ronald van der Plaat, 70, was jailed for 14 years in 2000 for rape, sexual violation and assault.

He kept his daughter Tanjas Darke a virtual sex slave for 23 years in Vanuatu and New Zealand.

Van der Plaat complained to the BSA that an item on Television New Zealand's Sunday programme on June 27 this year was unbalanced, unfair and inaccurate.

The programme covered a story about van der Plaat's private prosecution of fraud against his daughter over the ownership of a Gottfried Lindauer painting.

Invercargill District Court dismissed the prosecution in January and Justice Fogarty in the High Court dismissed van der Plaat's appeal.

The judge said that van der Plaat wanted to get revenge and harass his daughter "because of his conviction for prolonged sexual offending" against the daughter.

Van der Plaat complained to the BSA on eight grounds, all alleging that TVNZ's coverage was unbalanced, unfair or inaccurate.

The BSA dismissed all eight complaints.

"The authority concludes that a number of the...issues are a direct attempt on the part of Mr van der Plaat to re-litigate issues arising from his trial on the sexual offences against his daughter and do not give rise to issues of broadcasting standards," it said in a decision released today.

The BSA also disagreed that the programme was unfair and unbalanced because it did not use information "portraying Mr van der Plaat as something other than the 'monster' the item made him out to be," it said.

"Mr van der Plaat was convicted of horrendous crimes of sexual abuse against his own daughter... the media is not obliged to include material that Mr van der Plaat consider portrays him in a favourable light."

The BSA noted that although Ms Darke, now a South Island gem cutter, had withdrawn from legal proceedings over the Lindauer painting, van der Plaat could not claim the programme was unfair in its portrayal of the ownership dispute.

"The unambiguous overall theme of the item in relation to this issue was that Ms Darke withdrew from the proceedings as a result of the emotional upset that she was experiencing as a result of her ongoing forced legal dealings with her long-time abuser."

Mrs Darke had contracted sexually transmitted diseases before she was 12 and fell pregnant to van der Plaat in 1992.

She miscarried the baby and is forced to wear a pacemaker after suffering heart problems from drugs her father forced her to take.

The BSA also declined to rule on van der Plaat's complaint over TVNZ's coverage of that forced drug taking, saying TVNZ was under no obligation to challenge court findings.

- NZPA