14 Aug 2012

Girl says bathroom rape didn't happen

12:30 pm on 14 August 2012

A child has told a Wellington jury it is not true that a friend of her father's attacked her in the bath when she was seven years old.

The girl has been giving evidence at the trial of her parents and another man, who are before the High Court in Wellington on charges of sexual and physical abuse.

The Crown alleges the accused spent all day drinking, and had little connection with the children apart from when they were abusing them.

The jury on Monday morning watched a recorded interview in which the girl said her uncle, the other man on trial, had raped her while she was in the bath.

However in cross-examination this Monday afternoon the child said the incident hadn't happened and she'd been told about it during conversations among her siblings.

Two more children are yet to give evidence.