A man has been found guilty of assaulting a teenage girl with the intent to rape her or to get her to perform oral sex on him.
The trial, which began on Monday, was presided over by Justice Cameron Mander.
The Crown had laid two charges against Dibben — the other charge being aggravated assault with intent to commit indecent assault in Invercargill on December 13, 2021.
In his closing on Tuesday, Crown lawyer Riki Donnelly said the focus for the jury was whether Dibben pulled the bag from the girl’s shoulder as she biked away — which would amount to an assault.
The prior propositions of sex, oral sex and other lewd comments made to the girl, which she repeatedly declined, showed his intent, he said.
"We’re here because he hasn’t taken no as an answer. The Crown says he has chased her and tried to pull her down to achieve his aims."
In his police interview, Dibben did not dispute he made highly sexualised comments but did dispute making contact with the bag, Mr Donnelly said.
"It’s up to you to decide if the Crown has proven otherwise."
In her closing on Tuesday, Dibben’s lawyer Sonia Vidal said a significant issue in the case was the the bag.
It was the defence’s case the tote bag got caught up in the handlebars of Dibben’s bike as he rode beside her, causing him to fall off his bike.
"If you’ve got any reasonable doubt as to where the bag may have been, if you can’t be sure it was on [the girl’s] shoulder, there is no way you can go on to consider the other aspects of the charge in regards to this case."
Important factors in evidence which supported Dibben’s case were the girl’s evidence that the bag may have been on the handlebars and the fact Dibben’s DNA was not found on the bag.
She put it to jurors that if Dibben was going to sexually violate the girl he would not have tried to pull her off her bike in the location they were at in Lindisfarne St; rather he could have done it while they had been near the trees and shrubs they had walked past.
Justice Mander said jurors had to decide first whether an assault took place — that is, he grabbed the bag which was being worn over the girl’s shoulder at the time he grabbed it. If they believed the bag was on the handlebars, then not guilty verdicts would be returned on both charges.
However, if they believed the assault did occur, the jury, based on the evidence presented to them, then had to consider whether he stopped the girl in order to sexually violate or indecently assault her.
Justice Mander told jurors that they should be judges of the law without prejudice or sympathy.
"In this case you’ve heard that Mr Dibben was subject to GPS monitoring at the time of the incident.
"The only relevance to this case is the information that could be obtained about his movements on this day."
Jurors should make no adverse inference about the GPS monitoring as it would be high speculative, unfair and illegitimate, Justice Mander said.
Jurors went out to deliberate at 10.40am and returned at 2.52pm to deliver the verdict.
After the guilty plea was delivered, Justice Mander adjourned sentencing to a nominal date of March 1.
He called for a pre-sentence report and requested a victim impact statement be made available for sentencing.
Ms Vidal advised she would seek a cultural report to be completed for her client.
