Predator Capill remanded behind bars

Capill was last night behind bars for the first time since being charged in March. Picture / John McCombe

Disgraced morals campaigner Graham Capill is behind bars after pleading guilty to rape and indecent assault.

Shocking details about Capill's years as a sexual predator of three young girls were read to Christchurch District Court yesterday, before Judge Stephen Erber remanded the former Christian Heritage Party leader and police prosecutor in custody.

For one girl, being sexually abused by Capill forms her earliest childhood memory.

For another, Capill was the minister at the Christian college she attended and she recalls the groping that began when she was eight.

He tried to portray it as a "game" but by the time it ended, the abuse had escalated to rape.

The two girls knew each other but the alarm was not raised until years later, on the day of the second victim's wedding.

The first girl was her bridesmaid and while getting changed out of her outfit, Capill barged into the room despite being told not to.

After the incident, she told Capill's wife what had been going on, but the police only became involved after a third girl, now aged 11, complained to her pastor about repeatedly being touched sexually by Capill when she was eight.

In court yesterday, Capill, 46, struggled with emotion and wiped away tears as he pleaded guilty to representative charges of indecently assaulting both girls and raping one of them.

All the charges related to when the girls were aged under 12.

Capill had been on bail since pleading guilty in April to indecently assaulting the third girl but after the latest guilty pleas, Judge Erber remanded him in custody for sentence next month.

It is the first time Capill has been behind bars since he was first charged in March.

Prosecutions in the No 1 court are usually conducted by police but that would have put Sergeant Dave Murray in the position of prosecuting a man he had worked beside as an equal until three months ago.

Instead, the case was taken by Deidre Orchard, from the firm of Crown Solicitor Brent Stanaway.

She amended some charges - reducing an attempted rape charge to one of indecent assault and combining two rape charges into one representative count - then Capill pleaded guilty.

Capill hung his head in the dock as Ms Orchard outlined the charges, saying the first of the two latest complainants told police "her earliest childhood memory" was sexual abuse at Capill's hands.

The judge entered convictions on all five new charges - rape, unlawful sexual connection and three of indecent assault - and remanded him for sentence on July 14.

He called for an update to the existing pre-sentence report and for victim impact reports from the latest two victims.

Last night Vic Pollard - good friend of Capill and a devoted Christian - continued to stand by his friend.

"It's still a horrific and traumatic experience for Graham, his family, the wider Christian community and the victims. There are a lot of hurt people and the horror of it - a high-profile Christian man who has preached and pleaded guilty to this - is mind boggling.

"But a friend is a friend.

"Whether it's tough times or not, I want to be a faithful friend to him. Hopefully he will come through this in years to come and settle back into a lifestyle that's suitable and a big change."

Mr Pollard said there was nothing Capill could do that would jeopardise his support, "unless he refused my friendship and didn't want it".

"He is in need of friendship and people support. That's what a Christian person does."

Mr Pollard said he visited Capill last week at his family home.

"He cried last week and I think those aren't just tears for the consequences but for the consequences for his family and the victims and the wider community. He's a broken man."

He said church groups had prayed for all those affected by Capill's actions.

"He has to look to God for forgiveness, and I know he'll be doing that.

Christian Heritage Party leader Ewen McQueen said Capill's actions were a "tragedy for the victims and the victims' families".

"We were shocked when the news first came out in April. The charges today are clearly much more serious, and there's only one word that can describe them - appalling.

"It really does represent the worst form of hypocrisy ... it just takes your breath away, and many New Zealanders will be pretty angry at that."

Mr McQueen gave credit to Mr Pollard's support.

"But from my perspective, I can only identify with what many New Zealanders would be feeling about this, and agree with them."

The convictions

On three girls aged under 12:

* Rape

* Unlawful sexual connection

* Indecent assault (x3)

- NZPA