Man keeps daughter as sex slave for 23 years

October 18 2000 at 11:31PM

Wellington - A 66-year-old Dutchman subjected his daughter to 23 years of sexual slavery, brainwashing her into staying with him and forcing her into a mock marriage ceremony when she was 16, a New Zealand court was told.

The prosecution said the woman, now 40, was suffering from battered woman's syndrome, so was unable to escape even when the opportunity presented itself.

"She was subjected to abuse - sexual, physical and mental - from such an early age that she initially viewed it as normal behaviour," detective Rob Hanna told the Auckland High Court, it was reported onThursday.

"She wasn't allowed to have a normal life from the age of nine," he said.

'She wasn't allowed to have a normal life from the age of nine' "She was basically brainwashed by her father not to leave. He had control over every aspect of her life, including her driving licence, her bank account, her passport, and who she was allowed to associate with - which was next to nobody."

The father, Ronald Van Der Plaat, was found guilty on representative charges of rape, indecent assault and sexual violation and remanded in custody for sentencing next month.

He pleaded not guilty, acknowledging taking photographs of his daughter naked but denying the sexual allegations. He said she had made up the story to get money out of him and her new husband had put her up to it.

The woman, whose name was suppressed and who now lives in Germany, told the court her father would sometimes give her alcohol and drugs before forcing her into depraved sex acts.

She said she eventually became pregnant by him but had a miscarriage.

Her father would sometimes give her alcohol and drugs The court was told she managed to get away in 1992, but did not file a complaint until 1998 after her father made repeated efforts to contact her in Germany. - Sapa-DPA