The Queen v Bryce Butler

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the appeal by Bryce Butler against his conviction was heard on the papers. The appellant was convicted by a jury of two counts of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 12 years and one count of inducing a girl under the age of 12 years to do an indecent act upon him. The appeal against conviction on one of the charges was abandoned, leaving the challenge to the representative count, alleging conduct over a nine-month period, as the sole issue. The appellant contended that the verdict was unreasonable and not supported by the evidence.

The legal issues before the Court involved the interpretation of the term "indecent" and whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction on the representative count. The appellant argued that kissing a child on the breast was not inherently indecent and that there was insufficient evidence to convict him on the representative count without reliance on the other two counts. The Crown, on the other hand, submitted that the nature of the kissing, given the circumstances and the age of the complainant, was indecent and that there was ample evidence to support the conviction.

The Court considered that the term "indecent" was to be given the meaning it has in general use, and what is indecent was to be judged in light of time, place, and circumstances. The Court found that the act of lifting a young girl's pyjama top and kissing her on the breasts while she was asleep had the appearance of a preliminary step towards an indecent assault, and it was open to the jury to find that the conduct had actually reached that point. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the evidence provided by the complainant, which was uncontested at the trial, was sufficient to support the jury's finding of guilt on the representative count. The appeal was accordingly dismissed.