Retrial opens in molestation case linked to Concord Baptist church

By Jeremy Blackman
Concord Monitor
November 18, 2014

http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/14399185-95/retrial-opens-in-molestation-case-linked-to-concord-baptist-church

A former Concord man with ties to Trinity Baptist Church who is accused of molesting his stepdaughter two decades ago went on trial again yesterday in Merrimack County Superior Court, five months after his first appearance ended in a mistrial.

Daniel Leaf, 55, of Tilton is charged with two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. His stepdaughter, Tina Anderson, claims he abused her between 1990 and 1992, beginning when she was about 9 years old. Anderson disclosed the abuse in 2010 during a rape investigation involving a fellow congregant of the Concord church.

County prosecutor Wayne Coull told jurors yesterday that Anderson had tried to come forward when she was young, but she was told by church officials “essentially to shut up.” Leaf’s attorneys counter that he had no contact with Anderson after 1991, and that Anderson has previously denied the abuse.

Leaf was arrested in 1991 and convicted of physically assaulting Anderson’s brother while disciplining him at their South Street home. Leaf was also convicted in 1993 of sexual assault and indecent exposure, and he is listed on the state’s sex offender registry. The trial is expected to last through tomorrow.