KNYSNA, South Africa — The trial of a scuba diving instructor charged with statutory rape started yesterday. Rory McKenna, 50, pleaded not guilty to charges of statutory rape and/or indecent assault. The alleged statutory rape victim, now 17, testified on camera that McKenna coerced her to have sex with him when she was just 15 years of age. The girl's mother told local reporters that a school friend introduced McKenna to her daughter in 2007 and he subsequently became a trusted friend of the family. The woman, a single mother, said it was a struggle to make ends meet, but McKenna helped pay the bills and offered her daughter free scuba diving lessons and promised to find her a job on a cruise liner. "I found him charming when we first met. He once told me he came from an advantaged family, which was why he enjoyed helping less advantaged people," she said. The mother said she fully trusted McKenna who deceived her into believing he was a father figure in the girl's life. She said he often drove her daughter to school and dance lessons. On multiple occasions over a one-year interval, the girl stayed overnight at McKenna's house. McKenna was arrested and released on bail in September 2007, a month after the daughter told her older sister about what had been happening at McKenna's house. The sister and mother are both state witnesses in the case. Authorities said the self-employed scuba diving instructor earns income from diving lessons, dolphin-watching trips and sales of boats at a Knysna-based company owned by a relative. | 
