January 30, 2013

Teen's challenging behaviours described at trial

By David Clarkson

A highly dictatorial stepfather?s parenting style was described as being a major factor in a teenage girl?s self-harming, but the man?s trial defence points to other factors including the girl?s Satanism.

The girl, aged 14, gave her religion as Satanism in a household where she regarded her mother as ?obsessed with Christianity?, a Christchurch District Court jury trial was told.

On trial is the stepfather, a 38-year-old contractor who migrated with the family from South Africa and now faces three charges of child cruelty and two charges of assault with intent to injure.

A psychiatrist, Professor Doug Sellman, yesterday?told of seeing the girl and the stepfather in sessions that took place after she had come to Youth Specialty Services because of concerns about her cutting herself and having suicidal thoughts.

He told the third day of the trial that he diagnosed her as having a major depressive disorder. ?The major factor was the tension that she was experiencing in relation to her stepfather.?

He said: ?It was probably not the only factor, but I believe that his behaviour towards [the girl] contributed to her self-harming.?

He believed that if the man had shown the teenage stepdaughter the same love that he showed for his younger natural daughter, she would never have presented at Youth Specialty Services.

Defence counsel Denise Johnston cross-examined Professor Sellman, who said he believed that people?s self-harming by cutting was a response to intense frustration or stress about what was happening in their lives.

He said the girl had been cutting herself for at least a year before it was noticed and she was taken for help.

Mrs Johnston questioned him about the girl placing 648 posts during one month, on a site for followers of Marilyn Manson and his dark and negative music. She had described herself as ?Satan?s little helper?, and had put up a picture of her cutting herself. Another image showed a pentagram.

The websites the girl had viewed included sites dealing with suicide, cutting, satanism, explicit sexual content, and mutilation.

Professor Sellman said: ?Virtually all the adolescents who come to see us are involved in the Internet. When they are distressed, they do visit these sites.?

He did not see the girl?s Internet viewing as ?grossly pathological?, but it was not going to help someone who was as vulnerable as she was.

?We should not be looking at what adolescents are looking at. We will just be shocked all the time.?

He regarded the girl as precocious in her development and sexual explorations. He regarded her being teased and bullied at school as being ?additive rather than causative of her self-harming?.

Mrs Johnston put to him that she had taken up satanism as a religion. He said that children brought up in ?fundamental? situation sometimes took on extreme positions at the other end. This could often lead to huge divisions.

He described the girl as having a vulnerability. ?She was more sensitive than average, more exploratory, more precocious.?

He agreed that she had moderate-to-severe behavioural disturbance, but did not agree that she would display extremely unusual behaviour. Her behaviour was ?relatively normal for a distressed 14-year-old?.

He was sure that she was seeking attention through her explorative sexual behaviour.

At a meeting, the man acknowledged that he was a ?highly dictatorial stepfather? but the professor had hopes that he would change his behaviour.

The man cried repeatedly as he gave his evidence. He said he had come to New Zealand for a better life for the children, but found there were differences with his wife about how to parent the stepdaughter, who was defiant and disrespectful.

He was the one who had to put in place boundaries and consequences. ?There are times when you have to step up as a parent,? he said.

The trial is continuing.