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A former police officer who is a complainant in a historical sex abuse case blackmailed his alleged abuser to the tune of $120,000 and tried to get a further $250,000 of "hush money" out of him, the Hamilton District Court heard yesterday.
The former policeman has spent time in prison after being convicted of the blackmail charges but was in court yesterday to hear a case where police are seeking to name his 79-year-old alleged abuser.
However the accused man will forever remain innocent because on November 15 he died of a heart attack, the day after learning that police would be laying more sex charges against him.
All 33 charges were withdrawn by a police prosecutor yesterday. But the hearing continued when the prosecutor asked the judge to lift the dead man's order for name suppression, despite the fact he is presumed innocent and will never be tried.
The 79-year-old had three daughters, and they blamed their father's death on additional stress brought on by scurrilous police actions and harassment by the Waikato Times newspaper, said defence counsel Roger Laybourn. The lawyer said that the fragile health of his client before the man's death meant police had agreed to let Mr Laybourn inform the accused of any new charges.
But this agreement was broken, and police contacted the man directly to inform him of several new charges.
Within 24 hours the man was found to have died at the Te Aroha thermal springs.
Judge Denise Clark adjourned her decision on name suppression until December 11.
