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Allegations of Abuse
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A witness in the trial of a former
Northland policeman charged with raping a woman in the 1980s has said the
accused asked her to have sex with him in the police station about an hour
before an alleged rape with another woman. The witness, whose name is
suppressed, was 20 at the time and socialising at a Northland hotel in March
1988 when the accused gave her a lift home. In Auckland District Court
yesterday the woman described a frightening drive home with the "very
intoxicated" accused. She said he drove to the police
station "to pick something up" and she remembers feeling irritated
because she wanted to get home. After a long wait for him in the
car while he went inside, the woman said she grew worried about him and went
to look for him, finding him coming out of an office. "He made a pass at me, tried
to kiss me and said, 'we should do something before we go home'," she
said. "I just laughed it off, and I
was a little embarrassed for him because he played rugby with my
boyfriend." The woman said she wasn't
attracted to him and knew he was married with children. She convinced him to
take her home. The accused then went back to the hotel. The complainant said yesterday
that about an hour later, about 2am, she was driving the accused home when he
said he needed to pick something up from the police station. She told the court she had felt
"apprehensive" about giving the drunk officer a lift home, but
discussed it with her friend at the time and they agreed, "if you can't
trust a policeman, who can you trust?" The complainant alleged the
accused handcuffed her and forced her into the station, where she said he
raped her. The accused denies the claims and said the sex was consensual. He faces eight charges, including
four of sexual violation by rape. The accused was aged 28 at the time
and the complainant 44. She said she tried to bring a
prosecution against the officer, but he was not formally charged at the time.
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