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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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Sex accuser denies beauty comment Tauranga: A woman who
alleges she was sexually violated by a police officer in Tauranga police
station cells has denied saying officers only arrested her because she was
beautiful. The allegation was put
to her in the High Court at Rotorua during the trial of Senior Constable
Fredrick John Follas. Follas has pleaded not
guilty to sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. He was alleged to have
sexually violated the woman in a shower in the women’s cell block in the
police station on February 5 last year. The woman, whose name
is suppressed, was asked under cross examination if she had ever made
comments to police that they only arrested her “because she is beautiful”. Rachael Adams,
representing Follas asked the woman if she had accused police officers of
being attracted to her sexually. The woman denied she said that. Ms Adams outlined three
occasions where the woman allegedly accused police officers of wanting to
have sex with her - in February 2003, October 2003, and February 2004. The woman denied all
three incidents. She took exception to
questioning which suggested she had a bad attitude and purposefully damaged
police cells. “I think it’s only
natural for a person to go into court and police cells with a bit of an
attitude problem,” the woman said. Crown prosecutor Jonathan
Temm on Wednesday called 12 witnesses to back up the Crown case against Follas One of those was Tony
Balme, a Tauranga criminal lawyer who spoke to the woman several times
between February 2 and 5 last year. He told the court he
had been trying to get bail for the woman from a Tauranga District Court
judge that week. It was after the woman
was refused bail that she alleged Follas sexually violated her, he said. In a further
conversation with Mr Balme at the Tauranga police station, she said she did
not want to make any trouble for Follas and that he had been kind to her
during her time in the police cells. |
