New Zealand man would make daughter pray after abusing her

AUCKLAND - A 45-year-old man in New Zealand used to make his minor daughter pray for forgiveness after sexually abusing her and this went on for six years, a court was told.

Christchurch district court judge Stephen Erber said the man was a church official at the time, and it was necessary to highlight the hypocrisy of his conduct - working with Christian youth even as he abused his daughter from the age of five to 11, the New Zealand Herald reported citing the Christchurch Court News website.

The girl, now aged 20, read her statement at her father’s sentencing, sometimes in tears but dismissing him strongly at the end.

“He wrecked my life and destroyed my family. I have no love for him. I don’t care about him any more,” she said.

The man was sentenced to a three-year, four-month jail term on five indecency charges.

His daughter said she lost all respect for the church, god and the Bible as a result of her father’s behaviour. “He was supposed to be Christian but look at all the evil he was doing.”

She said he looked like a monster to her.

He would make her pray with him for forgiveness after the sexual abuse, but she knew she had not done anything wrong. “I wanted dad to say what he had done but he just lied and never took responsibility.”

She told the court how she became withdrawn and eventually resorted to drugs and alcohol, missing school, causing pain to her mother.

The mother, who had tried to take her own life after the abuse was discovered, told the court she felt like a failure as a mother. She said the man was praying all the time and asking god for forgiveness.

The judge said it was not possible to remain unmoved by hearing the victim’s statements read in court.

He ruled out a home detention sentence, and described his hypocrisy as an aggravating feature and referring to his conduct as being “as gross a breach of trust as possible”.