Indecent assault charges against boy, 15, dismissed

A judge has dismissed allegations that a 15-year-old boy indecently assaulted an 8-year-old while babysitting her.

The 15-year-old appeared in Masterton District Court on Friday facing three charges of indecent assault on an 8-year-old. He denied all charges.

Judge Tony Walsh said the first assault was alleged to have occurred in October last year, the second in December last year, and the third this March.

The assaults allegedly took place while the teenager was babysitting the girl and her siblings and, according to the Crown, included getting the children, aged, 8, 7 and 5 to watch pornographic videos on the family computer with him and on a separate occasion asking the girl's younger brother to "rape her".

The girl claimed at another time the teenager had touched her on the bottom but, "not in a nice way".

The girl's mother, after hearing of the alleged assaults on her daughter, checked the computer and found a pornographic website had been visited. She confirmed no one in the family had accessed the site.

In an evidential interview the teenager denied showing the children sex videos but conceded they might have seen them over his shoulder.

"He admitted looking at pornography on occasions but said he normally didn't watch [it] when the children were awake," Judge Walsh said.

Judge Walsh said although "suspicions are raised" by the evidence the charges had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt and dismissed the charges.