|
|
Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
|
Tauranga: A woman who
claims a police officer sexually violated her in a shower at the Tauranga
police station has denied telling fellow prisoners she was “taking a pig to
court” to get money. In the High Court at
Rotorua, Rachael Adams, defence lawyer for Senior Constable Fredrick Follas,
accused the woman of making the pig comment to other prisoners while she was
on remand in Auckland’s Mt Eden Women’s Prison last year. The woman, whose name
is suppressed, alleges Follas (44) sexually violated her when she was having
a shower in the woman’s section at Tauranga police station on February 5 last
year. She had been arrested
the previous Sunday after a warrant had been issued. Follas has pleaded not guilty
to sexual violation. The prosecution has
claimed Follas sexually violated her, firstly with a bar of soap and then his
hand. But under cross-examination, defence lawyer Ms Adams grilled the woman
about how she changed her story during interviews with three different police
officers. Ms Adams asked the
woman if she was an honest person given she had previous convictions for
shoplifting, theft from cars and burglary. The woman agreed those
offences were dishonest, but did not accept that she was a dishonest person. Ms Adams suggested the
woman could not get bail because she had four previous convictions for
breaching court bail, and that the woman had made up the story to try to get
released from custody. “You will do whatever
you can and say whatever you can to get things to go your way,” she said. The
woman denied the allegation. She said she did not get out of police custody
as a result of the allegation. “Not when it comes to
this court case. I am not going to do this. “I was in a state of
shock.” The woman also claimed
that after the shower incident she was asked by Follas to open her towel and
show him her naked body. Ms Adams queried
whether that happened the way she said it did, or if the incident had even
taken place at all. Ms Adams also asked the
woman if she had told other prisoners in Mt Eden that she was “taking a pig
to court” to get money. However, the woman
denied she wanted or needed any money. “My family just sold
$20 million worth of land in Papamoa. “At the end of the day
I did not discuss that fact. It’s not like I said, ‘Oh, I’m taking down a
policeman and at the same time there’s going to be heaps of money in it for
me’.” Ms Adams asked why the
woman did not yell out when Follas allegedly came into the shower area and
started touching her because the cell block was not sound-proof. The woman
said she did not know. Ms Adams pointed out she could have shut the shower door
so that Follas could not see her. The trial continues. |
