As he entered the witness stand in court yesterday, a Wanganui man stared wide-eyed at Daniel Bell, the 39-year-old on trial for alleged sexual abuse against children.
The witness, who had to be reminded to focus on the lawyers, was emotional as he spoke to Crown prosecutor Harry Mallalieu and defence lawyer Fergus Steedman about how he used to trust Bell. He has not seen the accused since before April last year, when he discovered his daughters had allegedly been indecently assaulted.
The two girls gave evidence in the High Court at Whanganui on Thursday that Bell had touched them inappropriately on a number of occasions when they were young.
Both complainants said they told their mother about the alleged abuse several years ago, but the mother said in evidence she did not remember being told.
"You know in your heart of hearts that if [the complainant] said something to you five years ago, you would never have forgotten that," Mr Steedman said.