Father loses sexual assault appeal

A father has lost his appeal against a conviction for sexually violating his four-year-old daughter.

The man, who has permanent name suppression, argued that his daughter could not recall the December 2006 events she had described in a video-taped interview.

The interview was supplied as evidence during the jury trial in Auckland District Court in January this year in which the man was convicted and sentenced to two years and nine months' prison.

In the interview, recorded eight days after the incident, the girl said her father had touched her and made her bleed.

However, under cross-examination during the court case two years later, the girl, then six-years-old, said she could not recall the event or what she said in the interview.

The father appealed his conviction, arguing that the verdict was not supported by the evidence and he was denied a fair trial because his lawyer was not able to effectively cross-examine the girl.

However, the Court of Appeal, in its judgment released today, said that when viewed as a whole, the evidence supported the jury's verdict.

The court also dismissed his claim of being denied a fair trial as the father's lawyer was able to confirm important defence matters from other witnesses.

- NZPA