A former southern police officer has been cleared of three sex charges.
After a two-day judge-alone trial before the Dunedin District Court, Judge Jim Large said he was left unsure as to what happened at the defendant’s Otago home over 10 days at Christmas in 2018.
The complainant — the man’s niece — said there were three incidents of indecent assault, which the Crown said marked an escalation in the defendant’s inappropriate conduct.
First, on Christmas Day, the woman said she was touched by her uncle as she was preparing lunch.
Yet, two other people in the room at the time, including the defendant’s wife, noticed nothing amiss.
"If that had occurred, it is reasonable to believe her response to it would have been noticed by one or two of those present," Judge Large said.
Over the following days, the complainant claimed the ex-police officer had again groped her buttocks while she was painting on the veranda.
It occurred several times, she said.
The alleged conduct, Crown prosecutor Robin Bates said, came from an underlying infatuation that had developed.
During a walk to a river near the property, it was alleged the man offered to get rid of his wife and replace her with his niece.
That conversation was wholly denied by the defendant, when he gave evidence.
Finally, the complainant told the court she was working at a computer in her bedroom on January 4 last year when her uncle entered.
Both agreed he massaged her shoulders but what happened next was hotly disputed.
The woman said the man grabbed her breasts and moved them up and down; he said no such thing happened.
They were simply looking at cars on her computer screen, he said.
While Judge Large acknowledged he had some concerns over the ex-officer’s evidence he was similarly troubled by that of the complainant.
Her actions after the alleged molestation, he said, did not fit with someone who had just been sexually abused.
"I find it difficult to accept that somebody who had just been assaulted in the way [she] described would then go to assist with the stacking of wood without invitation," the judge said.
"I’m left unsure as to what the real position was ... There’s a reasonable doubt in my mind."
The complainant said she did not speak out for several days because she wanted to appeal to the inner police officer inside her uncle.
She eventually made disclosures to her friend on the night of January 4 but Judge Large questioned why it took her so long and why she did not speak to her aunt — the defendant’s wife — who was "around and accessible" to her.
After the not-guilty verdicts were entered, the defendant was allowed to leave the court.
Arguments about the permanent suppression of the man’s name will be heard next month.
