Guilty verdict for prominent national figure

A prominent national figure has been found guilty at the Nelson District Court today of indecently assaulting a teenage girl.

The man, who has name suppression, denied the three charges he faced.

The jury took 14 hours to find the man guilty of all charges after a three-day hearing, the Nelson Mail reported.

The Crown alleged he indecently assaulted the girl by touching her breasts at a Nelson house in December 2009.

He further assaulted her on the same night by rubbing her leg, touching her genitalia and kissing her on the back.

The defence maintained the incidents never happened.

- NZPA