A former deputy principal has been jailed in Rotorua District Court for sexually abusing a girl from the time she was five until her early teens.
Norman John Foote, 65, was sentenced to nine years' jail on Friday afternoon as his 96-year-old mother watched from the court's public gallery and after his victim spoke of how he had devastated her life.
A jury found Foote guilty of two charges of sexually violating the girl by unlawful sexual connection and four of either doing an indecent act on her or indecently assaulting her.
Weeping as she read a victim impact statement, the now 25-year-old told Foote he had manipulated, abused and used her, leaving her with feelings of guilt and powerlessness.
These had led to her seeking solace from drugs.
"Because of you I never accepted my body, I have no body image," she told Foote.
She recounted continual flash-backs to her youth, the nightmares she continues to have and the three years of counselling she's undertaken.
She slammed Foote for not acknowledging the pain and hurt he'd caused her and her family.
Foote's lawyer, Murray McKechnie, confirmed Foote continued to deny the offending despite the jury's verdict.
He urged Judge James Weir not to take into account Foote's previous conviction for possessing child pornography because it post-dated the actions the complainant alleged.
He said Foote had not threatened, used violence or coerced her and had desisted of his own accord.
Judge Weir noted that the victim had not only suffered emotional and mental stress but had contracted chronic fatigue disorder which led to her addiction to drugs.
He said he had no doubt the offending occurred as the victim described.
Foote, reported at the time as being deputy principal at Gisborne's Lytton High School, was jailed for 10 months in 2007 for downloading more than a thousand chid pornography images onto a school laptop.
NZN
