Man, 71, denies historic sex charges

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A 71-year-old Palmerston, Otago, man accused of historic sexual offending against 10 teenage boys over a 30-year period is denying all the allegations.

Leonard James Mulholland appeared before a registrar in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on 95 representative indecency charges covering alleged multiple offences dating back to 1980.

Represented by Sarah Saunderson-Warner, he denied all charges and was remanded on bail to May 1 for a case review hearing.

Mulholland was arrested last December and initially faced 10 charges of committing indecent assaults or acts against each of the boys on various dates between May 10, 1980 and December 13, 2010.

Those 10 charges were adjourned by a registrar to the Oamaru District Court on January 29 when an additional 85 charges were before the court.

The 95 representative charges comprise 52 of committing indecent acts or assaults, 21 of inducing indecent acts, 17 of unlawful sexual connection and five of sodomy.

The oldest charges date back to 1980 and 1981 and consist of alleged sodomy and indecency offences against a boy under the age of 16 at Dunedin, Mosgiel, Arrowtown and Alexandra.

Thirty-three charges, including one of sodomy, 16 of indecent assault and 16 of inducing indecent acts, relate to alleged offending against another teenager at Dunedin and Mosgiel between 1980 and 1983, with three of indecent assault and one of unlawful sexual connection against a third teenager in Mosgiel and Dunedin in 1985 and 1986.

Two charges accuse Mulholland of indecently assaulting another teenager at Dunedin and Alexandra in 1987 and 1988, and another 29 relate to 15 incidents of alleged indecent assault and 14 of sexual violation of a fifth boy between 1990 and 1992 at Middlemarch, Waikouaiti, Mosgiel, Palmerston and Dunedin.

Other indecent assaults are alleged against two teenage boys at Dunedin in 1990 and between 1991 and 1995.

The most recent charges allege indecent assaults against three other boys at Palmerston between 2006 and 2007 and in 2009 and 2010.