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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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The Palmerston North
man accused of raping his former partner gave his version of events yesterday
as the prosecution attempted to portray him as a man obsessed. Trevor Ernest Connolly,
47, joiner, told Palmerston North District Court on day two of his trial that
he did not rape the mother of his fourth child in March 2003 and did not
threaten to kill her in November 2002. Connolly, who was
arrested and charged in October last year, admitted having sex with the
37-year-old woman on the night in question, but said it was consensual. He said she told police
she had been raped because she had become angry with him, after realising she
could have become pregnant to him only months after having an abortion. Giving evidence in his
own defence, he said he disagreed with evidence presented by the prosecution,
saying his former partner was wearing clothes on the night in question that
were different from those shown to the jury. He said he couldn't
have threatened to kill the woman in the manner described by the prosecution
-- which alleged he said he would kill her if she didn't let him into the
house -- as he had never been to her house during the day, except during
weekends. Connolly told the court
the woman's allegations of theft were designed to allow her to make false
insurance claims, and that he never took anything from her. He said the couple were
locked in a custody battle over their son at the time the allegations were
made. He dismissed the woman's accusations as "complete lies". But under
cross-examination, Connolly gave conflicting accounts of his feelings for the
woman and his motives for saying things to her that indicated he had items
that belonged to her. Prosecutor Deborah
Davies read extensively from transcripts of two secret recordings made by the
complainant in the months after the alleged rape. The recordings are of
conversations between the complainant and Connolly in a carpark and a car. Ms Davies asked
Connolly why, if he denied stealing any of her property, he said in one taped
conversation he would return her camera at a party, and in another said:
"Tell you what, I will give you back the camera [if] you have sex with
me." Connolly said he was
playing games with the woman. As she knew he didn't have her camera, she
wouldn't have taken him seriously, he said. Ms Davies said Connolly
was obsessed with his former partner and couldn't accept her having
relationships with anyone else. To illustrate her point,
she cited 11 instances of his asking the woman for a kiss in one 25-minute
taped conversation. She also pointed to occasions in the same conversation
when he said he loved her. Connolly said the
woman's relationships "meant nothing" to him, and denied he was
obsessed with her. He admitted telling the
woman, while arguing with her on the phone, that he would "do her over,
good", but said a reference to her being "done", in a taped
conversation, meant she would be caught out defrauding her insurance company.
Connolly said a
reference to a hit man killing the woman for free meant a lot of people
didn't like her, not that he was planning to kill her. The trial continues
today. |
