The man, whose age and name were not disclosed, went on trial in the Palmerston North District Court Tuesday on 34 charges related to three decades of alleged assault and sexual abuse, the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) reported.
The charges include rape, child cruelty and indecent assault. The jury was told the man in Manawatu, around 400 km from Auckland, began abusing his wife's one-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and their first child together after they married in 1963.
Published 12 October 2010, 07:27 IST