The daughter of an alleged serial sex offender in Oamaru has spoken of her love for her father and the anger she feels at the accusations levelled at him.
She gave evidence yesterday in the trial of former Oamaru Child Youth and Family home caregiver Frank Russell Walmsley (57). He faces 101 charges, including 16 rape charges involving eight teenagers. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which arise from 1995 to 2012.
The trial is now in its second week at the High Court at Timaru.
Between 1995 and 2000, Walmsley and his wife were caregivers at the Oamaru CYF home, where about 70 at-risk children stayed during that time. Their three children also lived at the home and yesterday their daughter Jasmine gave evidence.
She had moved to Invercargill to study when initial allegations came to light in 2000.
‘‘We were told about it. We were told we would no longer be in the family home because of the allegations.''
She said as a family they discussed the allegations and her father said sperm had been found in the bedroom.
‘‘We found that extremely odd. I was rather mad. It was very frustrating to see that these girls were portraying this kind of behaviour, and I love my dad, so of course I was angry.''
She said her father told her the complainant had got a male friend to ejaculate into a condom to be used against him.
The father of a complainant had also harassed both her and her mother at their workplaces.
Walmsley's wife Zena was also on the stand yesterday.
She said her husband had hoped to become a life coach, having studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) and the emotional freedom technique (EFT).
‘‘EFT is like acupuncture; you rub a spot [pressure point] and say positive affirmations.''
She demonstrated by rubbing a spot below her collarbone.
‘‘You have to believe it to work. By doing that, the pressure point gets rid of toxins.
‘‘He was hoping to have his own business life coaching. He had a number of clients and had some successful clients but a lot didn't pay.''
She will continue giving evidence today.
The fourth of eight complainants also gave evidence yesterday. The complainant, whose gender is suppressed by the court, lived in the home in 1995.
The witness told the court that one day after arriving home with another complainant, the pair were confronted by Walmsley, who said they had been smoking marijuana.
‘‘He wanted to search us. I told him we had nothing. He said it was lucky it was him searching us. He took us into his room [the office] and told us to pull down our pants,'' the witness said.
The other complainant did as she was told.
‘‘I said no and told him you can't do that.
''Walmsley then touched them both indecently.
‘‘I told him I would go to the police he said they would never believe me and started clipping me around the ear,'' the witness told the court.
The witness did not make an official complaint until last year.
In cross-examination, defence counsel Craig Ruane asked if the witness was aware counselling or compensation were available from ACC (for sexual assault victims). The witness said yes.
Justice David Gendall has indicated the trial will take three or four weeks.
