A Kāpiti Coast district councillor has denied indecently assaulting a council staff member, saying he has the greatest respect for all women.
David Scott Photo: RNZ/ Sapeer Mayron
David Scott, 71, is on trial in the Wellington District Court, accused of rubbing his genitals against the staff member during a morning tea.
In an unusual move today, his penis was measured by a doctor after the complainant said what she had felt touch her back was four or five inches long.
Judge Peter Hobbs suppressed details of the measurement obtained.
Mr Scott gave evidence in his own defence saying he had no prior convictions and was in his third term as a district councillor.
He said he had no recollection of grabbing the complainant, grinding against her for a couple of seconds and then moving on.
Mr Scott said he had had some lumps removed from his face, which his specialist had said were cancer, and late in 2016 he also had lumps removed from his penis, although he now accepted they were not cancer.
He said on the day the alleged indecent assault his penis was still feeling very sore to touch.
In cross-examination, Mr Scott said he had no prior dealings with the complainant before she began working for council and he denied having a one-on-one meeting with her in January 2017.
He said initially he had presumed that the incident the woman said had occurred had taken place while they were passing each other in the Council chamber, not in the room where the morning tea took place.
Mr Scott said when he heard she was alleging a deliberate indecency on his part he became upset and that led to this exchange with Crown Prosecutor Kate Feltham.
Q: "You asked for your apology to be taken in friendship and understanding, what did that mean?"
A: "It was a turn of phrase. I don't like upsetting anybody and I respect women and started the Women's Refuge in Paraparaumu. I've done loads of things for women for a long time."
Q: "Understanding of what?"
A: "Taken in friendship and understanding. It's just a phrase, it doesn't mean anything in particular."
Q: "Were you hoping she wouldn't take it any further?"
A: "I wasn't apologising for bumping, I was apologising for her being upset ... for her imaginative belief that I had used my genitals, which I hadn't."
Earlier the jury watched a videotaped interview conducted by Detective Vanessa Knyn with Mr Scott.
In it, Mr Scott told the detective he had a doctorate in linguistics, was a justice of the peace and had done a large amount of community work over the years, including working with Grey Power and being a volunteer driver for the elderly.
He denied having touched the complainant.
"I'll say categorically there was no indecent assault and the first time I've heard that expression used was you today.
"I've never told a lie in my life as I can recollect so I'm happy to talk to you."
Mr Scott told the detective he had injected insulin shortly before the alleged incident and that, and the effects of the penis surgery a few months earlier, would have made it physically impossible for him to push past anyone.
"I would have been protective of here, [indicating his groin] not only from the injections I'd just put in but also because I'd had a circumcision 15 weeks before and lost a lot of my penis to cancer."
"You try and protect yourself. You don't want anyone backing into you."
"I certainly wasn't interested in [the complainant's] bottom, I can tell you that, in any way."
Mr Scott told Ms Knyn he was too embarrassed to talk to his doctor about the discomfort he was feeling after his surgery and after the accusation surfaced he would not have gone running off to the doctor to say someone was accusing him of pushing against her.
"I'm telling you I'm still very tender and sore and unfortunately women don't have these things happen, but when you have half your penis cut off it's extremely sore and tender for quite a long time."
Mr Scott also told the police his groin would not have touched the woman because his stomach stuck out further than his genitals.
The Crown and defence are expected to give their closing addresses on Wednesday with the jury like to retire to deliberate on its verdict later in the day.