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Allegations of Abuse
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Tea Ropati - League Star accused
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Stuff
Fairfax Media UNDER THE GUN: Former Kiwis and
Warriors rugby league player Tea Ropati is currently standing trial for an
alleged rape of a woman in Auckland during 2006. A woman allegedly raped by former
Kiwi test rugby league player Tea Ropati has little recollection of the
events that led to the ex-Kiwi facing sex charges, an Auckland court was told
today. The woman could not remember much of
what happened because of the amount of alcohol she had consumed. The Crown case is that there is no
doubt sexual activity took place between Ropati and the woman in the early
hours of June 15, 2006. However, it took place without her
consent because she was so affected by alcohol, at times being asleep or
unconscious, and Ropati took advantage of her state. Asked by Crown prosecutor Phil
Hamlin if she had wanted to have any sexual connection with Ropati, the woman
replied: "Absolutely not". Ropati, 42, had interim name
suppression before it lapsed today. He pleaded not guilty to six
charges -- one of rape and five of unlawful sexual connection -- at the start
of an expected eight-day trial in Auckland District Court. Three of his brothers were in
court, one of them, John Ropati, acting as junior defence counsel. As a five-eighth, Ropati played
for Australian club Newcastle, English side St Helens and the Auckland
Warriors. The rape is alleged to have
happened in Victoria Park in the central city, the other offences at The
Whiskey Bar in nearby Ponsonby. The woman, a public relations
account manager, said she went to the Whiskey Bar with friends about 11pm,
having been to two other bars and a fashion store opening in the hours before
then. She was introduced to Ropati, whom
she has never met before, and her memory of what happened next was "a
bit sketchy", but there was " a flirtation, some kissing". "I guess I was pretty drunk
and I guess I was probably thinking at some stage I should go home." She had no recall of alleged
sexual activity with Ropati inside The Whiskey Bar, saying her last
significant memory there was going to a nearby carpark with Ropati. Her next memory was "when I
woke up to being raped". "I remember being in the
car," she said. "I remember coming to. I
remember an angry face over me. It was an angry, twisted face. I remember
being in pain." She challenged Ropati over what he
had done and he swore at her. He drove her back to Ponsonby where, she said,
he threw two $20 notes at her for her taxi fare home. In his opening submissions, Mr
Hamlin said Ropati arrived at the Whiskey Bar about midnight and began
flirting with a number of woman. "He was very busy," Mr
Hamlin said. "One witness described him as
being on the prowl." His alleged victim had been out
with friends, with whom she had shared cocaine and marijuana earlier in the
evening. Mr Hamlin said things began
pleasantly between Ropati and the woman, before events took a turn for the
worse about 2am, when Ropati's tack changed to explicit sexual interest. He said two of the charges related
to attempts by Ropati to perform oral sex on the woman in a back room of the
bar. The others arose from events after
Ropati drove the woman to Victoria Park. In a police interview, Ropati said
what happened in the bar was simulated oral sex, with the pair just being
"idiots". He denied raping the woman in his
car, saying that he came close to having sex with her, but stopped short as
he felt guilty because of his wife. Defence counsel Gary Gotlieb said Ropati
did not deny meeting the woman at the bar or driving her to Victoria Park. But jurors had to consider whether
Ropati was "a predator taking advantage of a drunk woman who could not
consent". "Or was he a creature of
circumstances, where unknown to him the complainant and her friends had been
out binge drinking, taking cocaine and marijuana?" Mr Gotlieb said security footage
in the bar showed the woman was not as incapacitated as the Crown had argued,
and what happened at the park was consensual foreplay. The trial continues tomorrow. |
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