William de Hart and Sherramy Genet. Photos / Simon Baker
At 85, William John de Hart is still in love. Unfortunately the woman he loves, Sherramy Genet, does not appear to share his feelings.
So the frail, partially deaf Scotsman found himself sitting in the Christchurch District Court, defending four charges of breaching a protection order by writing
letters and going too close to Ms Genet's home.
Three letters he allegedly sent her in May ended up in the hands of police.
"I'm afraid of this man," Ms Genet, aged in her mid-60s, told a depositions hearing yesterday.
"I can't understand why this is going on and on. It's too much."
She described Mr de Hart as "interfering and manipulative and humiliating". Yet she did not always feel this way.
After the pair first met, when she was 41 and Mr de Hart was 60, they became close and ended up living together.
Once she asked him to leave, but then to return again. She told the court this was because of his age.
"He would drive his car onto the lawn under my bedroom window and sleep there all night."
Mr de Hart told the Herald the court proceedings had been a nightmare and he feared ending up in prison.
"I've wept about this thing because I've lost my family through this."
He said he felt betrayed as Ms Genet had at times expressed her caring for him also.
Asked how long he had lived with Ms Genet, he said: "That's a good question ... because I was in and out [of her home] that often that I could hardly tell you that answer.
"I really believe that I have got to care. There's nothing about sex ... it's a compassionate caring. Even ... listening to her [in court], I could feel compassion for her."
At the conclusion of yesterday's hearing, Mr de Hart was committed to stand trial on the charges. He will reappear in court in September.
