A father who fondled and sucked his daughter’s breasts has been convicted by the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court.
He has permanent name suppression to protect the identity of his daughter.
He pleaded not guilty to two counts of serious indecent assaults.
However, the Lord Chief Justice Malcolm Bishop said he had no doubt the defendant committed the crimes against her daughter’s consent.
The court heard the complainant stated that on one occasion during the summer, the Defendant returned from a session of drinking Kava and returned to their property while the complainant was asleep.
They shared the same bed.
She woke up to find the defendant “massaging both my breasts” and sucking them.
“He then pulled down my shirt and slept next to me,” read the court document.
She said she kept quiet because she was afraid.
The defendant claimed that these allegations were made up because of a disagreement between himself and the complainant about how she should conduct her life.
He also alleged that the allegations against him were engineered by his estranged wife, who was jealous of his new partner.
He said he wanted the complainant to return to school and give up the inappropriate relationship she was having with her boyfriend and others.
The Lord Chief Justice did not buy it, saying he trusted that the young girl was honest and straightforward.
“She did not exaggerate, she accepted that she had shown affection to the complainant her father. She did not excuse her behaviour about not going to school, about absconding and going to live with her boyfriend, nor was her evidence in my judgement animated by anything other than a resigned acceptance that she must tell the truth. This is what in my view she did”, Mr Bishop said.
He found the defendant guilty of both counts of serious indecent assaults.
“I further order that nothing which leads to the identity of the complainant must be published and any report of these proceedings must anonymise all parties so that the identity of the complainant is protected pursuant to s119 of the Criminal Offences Act”.
