Sentencing of a former Salvation Army officer on historic rape and indecency charges against children has been delayed a second time.
Auckland man John Francis Gainsford, 69, was to have been sentenced in the High Court at Timaru today after being found guilty of 22 indecency and rape
charges involving eight children.
He was to have been sentenced last Monday, but that had been postponed until today.
A High Court spokeswoman in Christchurch said today the latest delay was because of "circumstances beyond our control".
"The judge wasn't able to go down (to Timaru) today and we're looking for another date as soon as possible," she said.
At the start of a two-week trial in October, Gainsford had pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault on girls under 12 and a charge of inducing a girl under 12 to perform an indecent act.
He was found not guilty on one indecency count.
The charges arose from events at the Bramwell Booth Children's Home in Temuka in the 1970s where Gainsford was a Salvation Army captain.
He resigned from the Salvation Army in 1983 after repeated allegations of "impropriety".
- NZPA
