DNA link in 2002 sex attack on girl

A 32-year-old man is on trial in Invercargill after DNA linked him to an alleged burglary and indecent assault on a 7-year-old girl eight years after the incident.

Hayden John Dallas Matchett has pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a girl aged under 12 and burglary of the house where the incident occurred at Te Anau on March 8, 2002.

The trial, in the Invercargill District Court, began yesterday before Judge Michael Turner, with an opening address from Crown solicitor Mary-Jane Thomas.

Thomas told the court Matchett was questioned by police after DNA from a baseball cap left at the crime scene matched his eight years after the incident.

About 3.40am on March 8, 2002, the complainant, who was staying at a friend's house, was asleep in bed when a man entered the house through a closed laundry door.

The man went into the bedroom where the girl was sleeping, knelt down beside the bed and indecently assaulted her, Thomas said.

The girl, who is now a young woman, woke up and told him to go away and within a short time he left. No-one other than the 7-year-old had seen the man, she said.

Police were contacted and in the bedroom they found a blue Nike cap, she said.

The cap was examined at the time by ESR for DNA and a blood stain and cellular material was found. There was no DNA match in the system, she said.

Police conducted a widespread inquiry after the girl gave them a description of a man with spiky blonde hair, but no arrest was made, she said.

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DNA link in 2002 sex attack on girl