Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A man has been found guilty of sexually violating a teenager at his Canterbury bach over 30 years ago.
The victim, who was aged about 18 at the time of the offending, told the Christchurch District Court he was so intoxicated when he was assaulted he thought he might have been drugged.
A jury unanimously found the 68-year-old guilty on Friday afternoon following a week-long trial.
The man’s name suppression will be revisited by the court next week.
Judge Paul Kellar remanded the man in custody.
The judge thanked the jury for their service, saying he could tell they had not found the process easy.
“It is very difficult to sit in judgement on someone. It’s my job and I still don’t find it easy,” Judge Kellar said.
The victim gave evidence that when he was a teenager he would regularly meet with the older man after school to smoke marijuana at the man’s house.
The victim knew the man was gay but had no concerns the man’s motivations were sexual until the night of the attack, the victim said.
On the night of the attack, the younger man said the pair had drank and smoked cannabis at a bach in Lake Coleridge.
The younger man said he became so intoxicated he was put to bed by the older man and woke to find the man violating him.
The victim did not report the assault to police until 2020.
Prosecutor Penny Brown said by that time the man’s life had derailed and he was due to be sentenced for serious offending of his own.
The victim said he had decided to report the assault after he encountered people in prison who had also been abused and had benefited from talking to others about it.
“When you are brought up kids are supposed to be seen but not heard. You’re not meant to bring things up and you live that life but seeing some of these old boys – and some of them are tough buggers – to hear them come out and say you need to get it off your chest, you need to speak to someone,” the victim told the court.
The man will be sentenced in May.
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