Defence lawyer points to only one record of alleged abuse in girl's CYFS records

CYFS caregiver denies 10 charges alleging sexual abuse of 14-year-old girl. Photo / Herald

Defence counsel in a sexual abuse trial has defended Child, Youth, and Family and its record keeping, saying that it showed a complainant's allegations against an approved caregiver were unreliable.

Anselm Williams told the jury in the High Court at Christchurch that social workers giving evidence in the case brought 27 years later said they made regular notes.

"They were very clear that if someone alleged sexual offending, they would make a note about it," he said. "The practice is that serious allegations of this type were noted and addressed in some way."

He was delivering the defence's closing address in the trial of a CYFS-approved caregiver who is alleged to have sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in his care in an Otago family home in 1995.

The man denies 10 charges of sexual violation, rape and indecent assault, in a trial that began last week before Justice Gerald Nation and a jury.

The complainant told the trial last week that the man had told her that if she complained, no one would believe her because he was an approved caregiver and she had been placed in a CYFS home because of her bad behaviour.

She told the trial she was not believed when she made complaints to CYFS, social workers and her case manager.

But Williams told the trial that when she made a statement to the police, more than 20 years after the alleged abuse, an investigation was carried out and there was only one note in the CYFS records concerning an accusation the girl made to the defendant's wife.

It occurred when the girl was "rightfully upset and angry" about her own family leaving her behind. The man's wife had mentioned the comment to CYFS and it had been recorded.

The complainant was seen as a difficult child, involved in theft and truancy, and she had made a claim in 2018 for compensation from the Ministry of Social Development. No compensation has yet been paid.

Williams said the trial was about the credibility of the complainant because the defence case was that the offending had simply not occurred.

Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae said the woman had given "powerful evidence" about her allegations. She had rejected the defence allegation that there was a financial motivation for her allegations of sexual abuse.

She had said in evidence: "I don't want filthy money from a bastard like him. It's not about money. I don't need money."

McRae said she had made no claim to ACC, and no prosecution was required to advance the claim she was making against the Ministry of Social Development.

Justice Nation is expected to complete his summing up to the jury this afternoon, before they retire to consider their verdicts.