Source: Radio New Zealand
Michael Ian Mclean in court. RNZ / Finn Blackwell
A man who befriended a boy at a campground became a close family friend while sexually abusing the boy into his teenage years, the Crown says.
Michael Ian Mclean, 58, faces 33 charges, including performing indecent acts on a person under 16, grooming, and sexual violation, and has pleaded not guilty.
‘It was crushing’ – family torn apart by secret
On Monday afternoon, the Auckland District Court watched a video statement taken from the victim, who can not be named.
In it, he spoke about the harm his relationship with Mclean had caused.
He said keeping the secret from his family tore them apart.
“That man ruined my connection with my family,” he said
“Once I finally told them, it was crushing.”
The victim said Mclean was the manager of the Glen Innes Swimming pools and YMCA.
He said what happened had left him with serious mental health issues.
“It damaged me so much mentally, it caused me a million more bad things than good, and I wish I could’ve just stayed a bit more innocent and live my childhood, and not have to keep a secret from my parents for seven-plus years.”
The victim said he and Mclean had been close to getting caught a number of times.
Court hears openings from lawyers
In her opening address to the jurors, Crown prosecutor Liesel Seybold said Mclean initially exchanged nude photos with the 12-year-old boy after meeting him and his family at a campground in 2015.
“He would tell [the victim] to delete the chats, and even check his phone to make sure that it was all deleted,” Seybold said.
Seybold said Mclean began touching the boy and they would see each other over the years, with Mclean becoming a close family friend.
The sexual abuse continued as the boy became a teenager, Seybold said.
It was not until the victim’s mother’s birthday party two years later when someone saw the victim stroking Mclean’s crotch, with Mclean doing nothing to stop it, Seybold said.
The guest raised it with his parents, going so far as to ask if Mclean could be trusted.
Mclean’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC urged the jurors to treat the allegations they had heard as exactly that.
“There are 33 charges, but you’d need not get too caught up in that because this man says that those allegations are nonsense,” Mansfield said.
“They didn’t happen, and they could not have happened.”
Mansfield told jurors Mclean himself would give evidence later in the trial.
He cautioned the jury about jumping to conclusions.
Earlier, Judge Simon Lance warned the jury about misconceptions surrounding sexual crimes.
“Research shows that widely held assumptions about how frequently sexual offending occurs, and when, where, and against whom it occurs, are usually incorrect, and do not reflect the reality of sexual offending,” he said.
“It’s therefore important for you to know that there is no such thing as typical sexual offending, a typical sexual offender, or a typical victim of sexual offending.”
Judge Lance said sex offences could happen in a variety of circumstances.
The trial continues.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
