Former national figure denies indecent assault

A former national figure has gone on trial, accused of touching a teenager's breasts while she was watching TV and indecently assaulting her while she was in bed.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim, pleaded not guilty to three charges of indecent assault on the first day of his trial in Nelson District Court yesterday, the Nelson Mail reported.

Crown prosecutor Bryony Millar said the man put his arm around the girl and touched her breast by putting his hand inside her T-shirt while she was at a Nelson home watching TV on the evening of December 30, 2009.

He later went into her bedroom and rubbed her leg and genitalia. The next day the girl spoke with her mother and then with police.

Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton said his client was the victim of unreliable allegations.

The charges had come out of the blue, and he had spent the last 16 months waiting for it to come to trial and plead not guilty, he said.

- NZPA