Man found guilty of historic abuse

File photo / NZ Herald

A middle-aged Masterton man has been found guilty of 11 historic counts of abusing children in his extended family while babysitting.

After a four and a half day trial in the High Court of Wellington a jury reached its verdicts late last night.

The six men and four women - who deliberated for nine hours - returned one not guilty finding and could not reach a verdict on two other charges.

Justice Alan MacKenzie granted the 49-year-old accused interim name suppression for the duration of the trial.

Defence counsel Jock Blathwayt has now applied to have that extended until sentencing on October 6.

He told the court that his client was a person of "very low intellectual capacity".

A number of indictments were representative and covered sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. Two charges related to physical assault.

There were five complainants, three girls and two boys, who were aged under 12 when the offences occurred in Masterton during the later part of the 1980s and the end of the 1990s.

- NZPA