The jury returned a guilty verdict tonight in the retrial of a man accused of drugging his stepdaughter before kissing her and fondling her breasts.
The man, who has name suppression, was found guilty on charges of indecent assault, and stupifying with intent to facilitate indecent assault. He was due to be sentenced on October 23.
The Wellington District Court this week heard the two describe very different versions of what happened on the night of October 2, 2007.
The girl, 14 at the time, said she had been about to go to bed when her stepfather offered her $30 if she could "scull" five glasses of vodka and Red Bull.
Being inexperienced with alcohol and not believing it would get her drunk, she agreed.
She said the man paid her and suggested she drink them in his bedroom, so her halfbrother wouldn't see her drinking.
He also agreed to give her a massage - which was not unusual in their family - as she had been complaining of a sore neck.
The girl said her stepfather then produced three pills telling her they were vitamins and would be "good for me".
She said after downing the drinks and pills she passed out.
She awoke to find her stepfather had stripped to his underwear and was straddling her on the bed. Her top had come up and he was rubbing her breasts .
A blood test carried out by police later found traces of the sedative Temazepam in her system.
When the girl decided to tell police, her mother told her to "pack her bags" and that she never wanted to see or speak to her again.
Lawyer Steve Gill said it would not have been possible for the man to straddle the girl, as she claimed to be lying on a water bed at the time and the man suffered from a motor neuron disease which inhibited his balance.
The stepfather said he had been drinking a vodka and Red Bull on the night in question when the girl came in and asked for one.
He poured her a weak one before going out for a cigarette.
He said when he came back the girl was drinking straight from the vodka bottle.
Prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue said this was unlikely as forensic testing of the bottle showed no signs of the girl's DNA or fingerprints.
The man said he later found the girl passed out in the bathroom and he picked her up and put her in bed.
Mr Gill suggested the girl had been given the pills by friends at a party after mixing them with alcohol and finding herself "in a right mess" she had felt embarrassed and sought to place the blame on someone else.
He said her testimony that the man had gone to get a glass after giving her the pills did not fit as, if his purpose was to "have his evil way with her", he would surely have stayed to ensure she took them.
Mr Gill said rather than thinking ill of the mother, the jury might consider that she believed her daughter was lying and that was why she responded the way she did.
He said the girl had initially told her family she had been raped, but changed her story on the way to the police station when her halfsister informed her police could test for that.
Mr O'Donoghue said she was saying strange things and had problems with her memory because she had been given three times the prescribed amount of Temazepam, mixed with a large quantity of alcohol.
The previous trial ended three weeks ago with a hung jury.
