Rapist’s bid to clear name
School buses were re-routed, while residents were advised to stay in doors.
People in the Lowburn area would continue to see a police presence, with cordons in the Lowburn and Mount Pisa area remaining in place.
Senior Sergeant Janelle Timmins said the teenager may be in possession of a firearm and should not be approached.
Police described the wanted man as a European aged in his late teens.
‘‘While police do not believe he poses a direct risk to members of the public, as a precaution we advise local residents to secure their vehicles and remain inside their properties until otherwise notified,’’ she said.
Earlier spikes were deployed by police around Pisa Moorings near Cromwell.
Police wanted to hear of any sightings of a white Nissan Navara ute with the registration KDA680.
Anyone who saw the vehicle or had information should call police on 111. A former Dunedin girls’ home social worker says he worked with young people for 38 years without complaints, except from a girls’ home in the 1980s.
Edward Anand, 68, was sentenced in 2016 in the Dunedin District Court, to 13 years’ jail.
Several of his victims were in court at Wellington yesterday for his appeal hearing, including one who travelled from Australia to attend.
Anand said he worked for 38 years with young people, including at the Wellington City Mission for eight years, and never had any complaints except from his years at the Elliot St girls’ home, Dunedin. ‘‘I am fighting for my name,’’ he said.
The Court of Appeal reserved its decision on Anand’s appeal against his convictions and sentence.
He spoke for himself about the convictions, but had a lawyer to argue the sentence appeal.
Anand denied molesting 10 girls at the former Elliot St girls’ home between 1980 and 1986, but a jury found him guilty on five charges of rape and seven of indecent assault, relating to eight girls.
The victims were aged 10-15 years and the Crown said Anand ‘‘groomed’’ them, offering them cigarettes and cannabis. Some of
Senior Sergeant Janelle Timmins
‘‘If I was not so sick I would have taken notes and raised things, I think I was quite lethargic, I was not thinking straight.’’ Edward Anand
the girls said he raped them in a secure cell at the home. One girl said she was raped in a church.
Anand had resigned when he was first confronted with allegations of abuse in 1986.
At the appeal hearing he said he was prejudiced because dairies that recorded activities and staff movements at the home were missing for the periods covering the charges.
He also said an all white jury of nine men and three women worked against him.
Anand is diabetic and at the time of his trial his blood sugar was very high and he was not ‘‘sharp’’, he said. ‘‘If I was not so sick I would have taken notes and raised things, I think I was quite lethargic, I was not thinking straight. Today my thinking is much clearer.’’
The jury had heard that some of the complainants were paid $25,000 compensation by the Ministry of Social Development for abuse suffered while in its care. Anand told the judges he had no hard feelings. He had worked with the complainants and knew they were poor.
‘‘$25,000 is a lot of money and that was why they came along and told lies.’’
But Crown lawyer, Ian Murray, said the jury acquitted Anand on some charges, which showed Anand had been able to put his defence properly and the system worked as it should.
The only reason Anand was disadvantaged was because of the strength of the case against him, which Murray described as ‘‘overwhelming’’.
Jeffrey McCall, Anand’s lawyer for the sentence appeal, said the sentence was too high, judged against sentencing norms from the
1980s.
But Murray said the eight victims were entrusted to Anand’s care and they were raped, sometimes repeatedly.
As the number of victims increased so did the level of harm. A number of the girls were severely impacted and it compounded difficulties they had already faced, he said.