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A man charged over the deaths of his children in a boating accident last Anzac Day will appear again in court in May after pleading not guilty to five charges.
Lindsay Rowles today pleaded not guilty in North Shore District Court to a charge laid by Maritime New Zealand that he operated a vessel causing unnecessary danger or risk.
The charge was laid after his children Erina, 8, and Travis, 5, drowned when the family boat sank near Shag Island in the Hauraki Gulf.
Rowles also faced four other charges of indecent assault, cruelty to an animal, offensive behaviour and drunken driving.
He pleaded not guilty to all five charges and was remanded on bail to appear again on May 28 for a status hearing.
On two of the charges, the indecent assault and the animal cruelty charge, he was ordered as a condition of his bail not to drink alcohol.
Three of the charges were laid after he allegedly grabbed a mouse from the top of a woman's dress as she walked her young son to school on February 8.
His lawyer Geoffrey Anderson it was "an absolute tragedy" for Mr Rowles but it was hoped that with the goodwill of all involved it would be resolved.
- NZPA
