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Allegations of Abuse
in NZ |
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Tea Ropati - League Star accused
of rape |
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Close up Mark Sainsbury There were some highly emotional
scenes at the end of the Tea Ropati trial today... the former league star was
acquitted on all sex charges and walked from the court hand in hand with his
wife. Now his lawyer Gary Gotlieb claims the police should never have brought
the charges in the first place but the head of the inquiry, detective senior
sergeant Scott Beard, says it would have been irresponsible not to take the
case to the jury. Gary Gotlieb Mmm
Mark Sainsbury Why? Gary Gotlieb Well
I think they felt it should never have gone to trial and I in fact twice tried
twice to stop that happening. I brought applications twice to stop it going
to trial. Mark Sainsbury Why shouldn’t it have gone to trial? Gary Gotlieb Well
it was one of those cases which was a little unique. To some degree it
relates to the law change in 2005
which allows a person to be prosecuted if the person who has had sex cannot
genuinely consent because of alcohol or something of that sort. And because
of that he was charged to a large degree. Now that really came in because of
date rape, sort of someone taking advantage of someone. This women plied
herself with her own drinks. Gave herself her own cocaine, for six hours
before he came on the scene and the evidence clearly showed most of her
friends... all of her friends bar one thought she was all right because she
could function quite well. Mark Sainsbury But the Courts decided that it would
go ahead. Gary Gotlieb Mmm Mark Sainsbury You had to accept that. Scott Beard you know they blame you. They
think the police were after a celebrity scalp Scott Beard At Auckland we have an adult sexual assault team
that specialises in investigating complaints of rape. And all cases are
different, different circumstances and cases where alcohol are involved can
be difficult but on the circumstances with all the investigations that were
done and the evidence that we had ... the police are not the judge and jury,
so we put it before the court and its up to the jury ultimately to make the
decision. As Mr Gotlieb says. He applied a couple of times to the court to
have the charges thrown out. That didn’t occur , and it was left to the jury
to make the decision Mark Sainsbury The jury acquitted your client this
afternoon. Gary Gotlieb My client would like through me
to thank them again Mark Sainsbury Now in terms of pursuing the case.
There was medical evidence there was the video evidence. Now isn’t that for
the jury in the end to make up their minds and decide Gary Gotlieb Can I make a comment having
nearly been in the law 40 years and having done my first rape trial six months into practice. We’ve become so
PC. Too scared to make a decision. The police too afraid to be ballsy and say
this is a bloody nonsense. And we just go ahead with things and say the answer
is “Leave it to the Court” Well we’ve gone crazy in my opinion Mark Sainsbury Scott Beard, have you gone crazy?
Are you too afraid to say this is silly? Scott Beard No of course not Mark. We make decisions in a lot of
different cases that are reported to us. And in this particular case we have
some CCTV footage; we have the statement from Mr Ropati, We have the
complainant and her statement and we have some medical evidence. Now as I say
the police are not judge and jury and it’s proper for a jury and the court to
determine innocence or guilt Gary Gotlieb Could I just say something about
this statement. The statement was
first made 14 hours after the event. There wasn’t enough to prosecute him. So
five weeks later another statement is obtained. She having spoken to all her
friends what they could remember Having spoken to the police, and then having
eleven days after the event made an ACC sensitive claims application dealt at
least two sessions with her psychotherapist. Then she was able to make a
statement five weeks later after the event, with this sort of recovered
recall. What a bloody nonsense,.
That’s all I can say. Mark Sainsbury Scott Beard, do you accept that it’s
a nonsense Scott Beard Well I think everybody has to have been in court to
have seen the complainant and of course there are guidelines in the court
when complainants of rape are giving evidence and that complainant came
across credible. She didn’t embellish anything. She could have said a lot more but she made
her statement as to what she could recall. Gary Gotlieb She couldn’t remember a damn
thing. She had a blackout. If you have a blackout, it’s a blackout. You can’t
sort of start recovering by prompting from other things. A blackouts a
blackout. And they tried to say that she’s asleep or unconscious. The experts
said quite the opposite Mark Sainsbury It does raise an issue though and we
see it more and more common all the time. Where people get into vulnerable
positions, as they get trashed in bars. Is this something that has to be
addressed? Scott Beard Look, because somebody is drunk doesn’t amount or
equate to consent. And that a lot of times is what the rape is about. Was
there consent or wasn’t there consent. And alcohol Gary Gotlieb He was drunk as well Scott Beard But I just want to reassure the public, You know,
the New Zealand police. We take rape complaints seriously. We’ll investigate
them to our fullest, whether alcohol is involved and if a woman is
intoxicated they shouldn’t be preyed upon ot taken advantage of and if they
do take a complaint to the police we’ll investigate it. If there is
sufficient evidence to put it before the court then we’ll do that. Gary Gotlieb This wasn’t a young woman who
went out, was plied with drinks by Mr Ropati. She plied herself. He had no
knowledge of what she was drinking Mark Sainsbury Well does that mean you give up any
rights Gary Gotlieb Well the short answer is he and
others including the barmaid did not think she was drunk. She used her EFTPOS
five times to put the PIN number in. He couldn’t even put his own pin number
in. Mark Sainsbury In terms of the behaviour issues,
Gary Gotlieb. There are some I suppose for your own client as well. He admits
he’s had a drinking problem He admits
he behaved like an adiot Gary Gotlieb And he doesn’t retract from that
at all. Not for one moment. He feels
that what he did he let his wife down very badly but the reality is that he
did not do anything that was not consented to and that’s the reality of the
situation Mark Sainsbury Do you believe that the case was
pursued because of his celebrity? Gary Gotlieb The old saying is you might
possibly say that. I couldn’t possibly comment is very true. I think that there’s an element of that in
there. Can I say this and you answer me this Scott. Was this squad just formed a week before
this happened? Scott Beard The Auckland City District Police had decided Gary Gotlieb This particular squad Scott Beard Had decided to form an adult sexual assault
team. We have a child abuse unit for child
abuse cases Gary Gotlieb And a week before and you were
out to prove yourself. That’s what it’s all about Scott Beard Not at all. This case had already been reported to
the police prior to that squad being formed. Gary Gotlieb And you came in and go wammo,
we’re going to prove ourselves, Mark Sainsbury I’ll just put that to you. It’s what
we started with as well. The suggestion that you guys, this new squad were
out to prove themselves with a celebrity scalp Scott Beard I go back to what I’ve said before. We had the CCTV
footage. We have what she says from what she can recall and remember. What
her friends said and what they recalled. The statement from Mr Ropati and
then the medical evidence. And then on the basis of that a decision was made
to prosecute. It never got thrown out of court. It went to a jury and a jury
made the decision. Mark Sainsbury And as we’ve seen at the end the
jury did make a decision Gary Gotlieb Absolutely Mark Sainsbury It has acquitted your client Gary Gotlieb And the CCTV footage. I looked
at it and I was absolutely gobsmacked that they proceeded. I could not
believe they had done so. And I can tell you I’ve been in the game for nearly
40 years and I can tell you I’m absolutely shocked they proceeded Mark Sainsbury Gary Gotlieb, Scott Beard, Thank you
both very much for your time tonight |
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