Five charges were withdrawn.
Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said police had been working through the huge and complicated task of reviewing electronic recordings and identifying the victims linked to the appropriate charges.
In the course of this, the links became unclear in a few circumstances and therefore an adjustment to the charges was needed.
Pask, who appeared in court today via audio-visual link from prison, was such a trusted member of the gymnastics club that he was able to take young girls on trips without their parents and have them sleep at his house unchaperoned.
He sexually violated his victims in their sleep, when one was only 6, and took photos of his crimes.
Today he appeared contrite as he engaged with Judge Garry Barkle, who convicted him on all charges.
However, his wish to attend restorative justice, so he could “apologise to the victims in person”, was denied.
The officer in charge of the case said none of the victims wanted to see him, therefore restorative justice was not an option.
Contact with 180 children a week
Pask worked as a coach at the gym club for 25 years until he was arrested in September last year, according to a police summary of facts related to the first raft of charges.
As the club’s coach, he had contact with 180 children a week, mostly young girls aged between 7 and 11.
He also took young gymnasts to competitions outside Blenheim.
“Many of these trips have involved him taking girls away, without their parents, and staying in accommodation with the children,” the summary read.
Until his arrest, Pask had been a trusted member of the Blenheim community, “to the point where several families have allowed their daughters to stay at his house during weekends and holidays”.
One of his victims was a girl he first sexually violated in November 2019, when she was 6 and was staying at his house overnight.
He repeated this seven more times over several years, each time while she was staying at his house.
The last time was in early January 2023.
The second victim was an 11-year-old girl who also attended the gymnastics club.
She stayed at his house multiple times and travelled with him to competitions.
A few days after Pask offended against the first girl, in early January last year, the second girl came to stay at his house.
During the night he violated her and took photos of himself doing it.
In August last year, the girl was staying in the same hotel room as Pask during a gymnastics competition in Christchurch.
He indecently assaulted her as she slept.
A month later, she stayed at his house again and he repeated the violations, after which a complaint was made to police.
Victims assaulted as they slept
A third victim was a 13-year-old girl from Christchurch who visited Pask from time to time with her mother.
Pask also stayed at their family home in Christchurch during some of his weekend gymnastics trips.
Between December 2015 and May 2019, the girl was staying at Pask’s house during a holiday with her mother, who had gone out and left her in Pask’s care on two consecutive nights.
On both nights, Pask violated the girl while she slept.
The fourth victim was another 13-year-old girl who was a close family friend of the first victim and was living with the first girl’s family while her mother lived in Christchurch.
In late March 2019, Pask was left in charge of the two girls while the younger girl’s mother was away at a work conference.
During the night, Pask reached under the 13-year-old’s bedcovers while she was asleep and indecently assaulted her.
On another occasion that year, he drove the girl to see her family in Christchurch for the weekend.
As she slept in the front passenger seat, he reached over and indecently assaulted her again.
After the 11-year-old girl’s complaint in September last year, police raided Pask’s house and found multiple digital storage devices in his bedroom.
On them were multiple images that appeared to have been downloaded from the internet, depicting girls as young as toddlers and up to 10 being used for sex.
There were also images of similar-aged girls being used for sexual activity with adults and indecent images that did not involve sex.
Pask will remain in custody until sentencing next month.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
