A 66-year-old Dutchman has been found guilty of subjecting his daughter to years of sexual slavery.
A jury in the High Court at Auckland took less than five hours yesterday to convict Ronald Van Der Plaat on representative charges of rape, indecent assault, and various forms of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.
Justice Tony Randerson remanded Van Der Plaat, of Te Atatu, in custody for sentencing next month.
Thanking the jury, the judge said it had been a particularly difficult and horrific case.
Justice Randerson lifted name suppression on Van Der Plaat at the request of the daughter, who has a different name and now lives in Germany.
The Crown had maintained that the woman was subjected to 23 years of sexual slavery by her domineering father.
Outside the court, the investigating officer, Detective Rob Hanna, said Van Der Plaat had effectively brainwashed his daughter into staying with him despite the years of abuse.
The court heard that the offending began in Vanuatu when the girl was 9, after her mother left.
The sexual activities became more bizarre and depraved when Van Der Plaat and his daughter, who is now 40, came to New Zealand in 1983. Sometimes he would feed her alcohol and drugs before sex.
Depraved sex acts were described to the court by the daughter.
She eventually became pregnant to Van Der Plaat but suffered a miscarriage.
Some of the incidents happened in Vanuatu and were not the subject of charges, as they were outside New Zealand law.
Van Der Plaat was also said to have gone through a mock marriage ceremony with his daughter when she was 16.
Partners of the man gave evidence of his sexual preferences, which included bondage and his being suspended, bound and naked, in a door frame.
The offending against the daughter, who was born in New Zealand, continued until she was 32.
In his summing up, Justice Randerson said it was the crown case that the man's degree of control over his daughter amounted to enslavement.
"She said she felt she had no option because of his control of her and because of the fear that he would punish her physically if she did not consent," the judge said.
The Crown said the woman was suffering from battered woman's syndrome, so was unable to escape her father even when the opportunity presented itself.
On occasions, the woman told the court, she initiated sex herself, simply because it was inevitable and that way at least she was able to avoid some of the more extreme sexual acts.
She managed to get away from her father after becoming pregnant in 1992, but complained only in 1998 because of her father's continued efforts to contact her in Germany.
Van Der Plaat acknowledged taking photos of his daughter naked and semi-naked but denied any of the sexual allegations.
He said she had made up the story as a way of getting money out of him and that her new husband had put her up to it.
Detective Hanna described it as the worst case of sexual offending he had been involved with, because of the type and duration of the activity.
He said it had been impossible for the daughter to leave her father because she had virtually no contact with anyone but him from an early age, because of his threats and violence, and because of the control he exerted over her.
"She was subjected to abuse, sexual, physical and mental, from such an early age that she initially viewed it as normal behaviour," said Detective Hanna.
"She was basically brainwashed by her father not to leave and the fact that he had control over every aspect of her life, including her driving licence, her bank account, her passport, and who she was allowed to associate with - which was next to nobody.
"She wasn't allowed to have a normal life from the age of 9."
Court finds father guilty on charges of sex slavery
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