A judge today called a halt to a rape trial in the Greymouth District Court before the Crown had concluded its evidence.
Judge Alastair Garland suppressed his reasons for discharging the jurors and abandoning the jury trial.
The accused, a 47-year-old Hokitika man, was defending three charges of indecent assault and seven of rape.
The alleged victim was aged between 12 and 17 years when the alleged offending was committed between 2007 and 2012.
The Crown claimed that in most cases the acts occurred in Hokitika, but Invercargill and Taupo were also given as locations for the offending.
The accused had said through his lawyer, Richard Bodle, that the girl had made up the allegations to get back at him after they argued.
A date for a new trial has not yet been set.
- Greymouth Star
