The man, who has interim name suppression, is on trial in the Timaru District Court this week, facing two charges of doing an indecent act on a young person, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and indecent assault.
The charges relate to one complainant and are alleged to have occurred from 2014 to 2019, on some occasions while the boy was in his school uniform.
The defendant had gained the trust of the boy and his family.
Yesterday, Crown prosecutor Callum Mitchelmore told the jury the pair had met through the defendant’s role working with youth and the defendant took on "somewhat of a mentoring role" with the boy.
"I feel like I trusted him and other people trusted him and he was well known," the complainant said.
The Crown alleged the defendant sexually assaulted the boy on multiple occasions when he picked him up for school on rainy mornings.
He is also charged with sexually violating the boy and indecently assaulting him while on a trip and doing an indecent act on the boy when he visited for dinner.
The court heard a phone call between the complainant and defendant, which police intercepted after asking the complainant to make the call.
The complainant vaguely referred to the incidents between the two of them.
"I just wanted to let you know that it did affect me what happened," the complainant said.
The defendant, who informed the complainant he was lying in the bath, replied: "I am sorry about that, I really am, really, really, really.
"It shouldn’t have gone the way it [did] young man," the defendant said.
"The trouble was, you were forcing things a wee bit there."
The complainant referred to where he was when the defendant allegedly sexually violated him, and said: "I was unsure what was going on."
The defendant replied: "That was one of the saddest things really because that shouldn’t have happened. You were encouraging that.
"That’s the one and only time in my life and it will be the one and only time."
The court heard the charges came after the complainant went to a police station saying he had been sexually assaulted.
His interview with police was also played to the jury.
He described the incidents and said when he was being assaulted before school he "froze", and did not understand what was happening.
"I was just lying down there with my arms above my head, just completely silent, not even talking, just frozen. I feel like I couldn’t move," the witness said.
He did not tell anyone what had happened until years later because at the time he was not sure if what was allegedly happening was normal.
"Now that I think about it now, I don’t feel like it was normal but ... I was young and I didn’t know what was happening," the complainant said.
The complainant said after he was violated on the trip with the defendant, the defendant said "please don’t mention this to your mother."
And he did not, until recently.
"... because I had only just processed what had happened", the complainant told police.
He said when the defendant violated him, he thought "I’ll just close my eyes; it will all be over soon.
"I felt somewhat guilty that I let it happen. A mixture of guilt, anxiety and just fear.
"I couldn’t process what had happened."
The defendant sat in the dock shaking his head during parts of the complainant’s evidence in court.
Under cross-examination from Philip Hall, KC, the complainant accepted one of the incidents may have been an accident.
He asked the defendant if he had lied or exaggerated other events, which the witness denied.
Mr Hall asked the witness why he kept calling the defendant for rides to school if he was being assaulted.
"I was young and I didn’t know any better," the complainant answered.
"You could’ve stopped all of this, couldn’t you, by not calling him?"
The complainant accepted he could have.
In his opening, Mr Hall said
there would be questions about whether the complainant was "prone to exaggeration" or "capable of indulging in fantasy".
He reminded the jury that the defendant "emphatically denied" the allegations, and urged them to keep an open mind while listening to the evidence.
Judge Campbell Savage is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last three days.
Cross-examination of the complainant will continue today.
