March 27, 2009

Sports trainer found guilty on sex charges

A sports trainer is in custody awaiting sentence after a jury?s guilty verdicts on three sex offences at the end of a four-day trial in the Christchurch District Court.

Judge Michael Crosbie remanded Malcolm John Platt, 47, for a probation report and sentence on May 5 on a charge of raping a 16-year-old girl, and two further charges of sexually violating her with his tongue and his finger.

Crown prosecutor Ruth Thomas told the court that when Platt spoke to the police he denied sexual contact with the girl but DNA from semen samples taken from her clothing, a towel, and a chair, linked him strongly to her account of what happened.

She said the girl had some mild impairments and functioned intellectually at about five years less than her chronological age. She had problems with verbal comprehension and memory.

She told the jury that the girl had felt something rip inside her when Platt raped her. When he undressed the girl, she had said ?No?, tried to leave, and tried to fight him. She was shaking with fear and did not know what to do afterwards.

The girl gave evidence from behind a screen at the trial and much of her testimony was presented as an evidential video recording played to the court.

Defence counsel Paul Johnson acknowledged that Platt had not told the truth to the police when he said there was no sexual contact between him and the complainant.

?He did not rape the complainant. No penetration took place. While he had some sexual contact, it was consensual and he believed on reasonable grounds it was consensual,? he said.