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A young woman who has accused her father of sexually abusing her over a seven-year period was today branded a liar by defence counsel at Wellington District Court.
The crown and defence completed their closing arguments this afternoon and Judge David Ongley will sum up the case tomorrow before sending out the jury.
The 51-year-old accused from Masterton has denied eight charges of indecently assault, one of rape and one of assault on his daughter when she was aged between 10 and 17.
Defence lawyer Jock Blathwayte told the jury of seven men and five women it was a man's worst nightmare to be wrongly accused of sex abuse.
"False accusations do happen," he said.
"It's a very hard thing to refute, especially where the allegations have shifted and morphed like a kaleidoscope."
He said the daughter, now aged 19, made an initial complaint to police that her father had touched her breasts and genitals over her clothes.
In a second police interview she said her father had sexually assaulted her by touching her with no clothes on, had raped her once and assaulted her.
In a separate interview the daughter said she had become pregnant by her father and had given herself an abortion with a piece of wire.
Later she admitted lying about the pregnancy and abortion, claiming she made the allegations so police would take her other accusations seriously.
Mr Blathwayte said the lie proved the daughter had the ability to provide graphic detail of things that had not happened.
He said her lie had been unnecessary as by the time she told it the accused had already been arrested and charged, so police had obviously taken the girl's claims seriously.
Crown lawyer Mark O'Donoghue said the girl's lie was born out of her concern her father would have got away with his abuse.
"Because she lied about getting pregnant and getting an abortion does not mean he didn't rape her - it's not that simple."
He said the man had developed a "prurient" interest in his daughter.
When the girl was 16 years old the man became suspicious she had either a boyfriend or a girlfriend and demanded to sniff her underpants to see if she was having sex.
"He was acting like a possessive boyfriend," Mr O'Donoghue said.
Mr Blathwayte said the man was simply a concerned parent who was worried about his daughter.
Mr O'Donoghue said as the girl became older, she became "fiesty" and started objecting to her father's advances.
He said when she was 16 the man punched her and threw her against a wall when she called him a rapist and refused to have sex with him.
"He ruled by fear and intimidation," Mr O'Donoghue said.
- NZPA
