Sex charges trial adjourned indefinitely

The 42-year-old had been set to stand trial at Greymouth District Court. File photo

The jury trial of a former West Coast man who fled to Australia three years ago while facing child sex charges has been adjourned indefinitely.

The 42-year-old had been set to stand trial at Greymouth District Court on January 28, 2013, on charges of sexually abusing his daughter over an eight-month period while he was working on a Greymouth farm in 2011.

He had been granted name suppression given the offences against him.

However, his trial had to be aborted after a catalogue of mistakes around his bail arrangements meant that he got married while on bail, obtained a new passport under his new wife's surname, cut off his electronic bail bracelet and fled the country.

In July last year, the Australian Federal Court upheld an order for the man to be extradited back to New Zealand, which the man had appealed against on the grounds that he would be subject to "serious physical harm from gang members" he had previously been associated with in the country.

He also said that he would be subject to "psychological torture" if he was extradited.

However, Federal Court Justice John Nicholas said there was no evidence to support the man's claims.

The accused was extradited last year and has been in custody ever since. He had been due to stand trial before a jury in Christchurch, beginning on Monday.

However, Greymouth lawyer Marcus Zintl said today that the trial had been adjourned indefinitely, for reasons that he could not go into.

The defendant had been remanded in custody, and although a new trial date was yet to be set, Mr Zintl said it would probably be in early 2016.