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Allegations of Abuse
in NZ |
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Tea Ropati - League Star accused
of rape |
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Three News
Former rugby league player Tea
Ropati has been found not guilty of sex charges against a woman he met in a
Ponsonby bar in June 2006. 42-year-old Ropati denied three charges
of sexual violation, including one count of rape, and three of attempted
sexual violation. He has been cleared of all charges. As the verdict was read out loud
cheers were yelled from the public gallery with Peter Ropati, Tea's brother,
having to be removed from the court as he refused to stop yelling. Peter shouted angrily that the
case had been a "waste of money" and that it "should never
have come to this." "It's been a pile of poop
from the outset," yelled Peter. "Absolute poop. Absolute rubbish,
the coppers here, the whole system!" As he was being removed from the
court he bellowed: "You talk about open justice, give us some!" The seven men and five women on
the jury delivered their verdicts today, the eighth day of the trial. The Auckland District Court jurors
retired at 1:00pm yesterday to consider their verdicts and about 5.30pm
indicated to Judge Phil Gittos that they would not be able to complete their
task that night. |
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