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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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A woman who says she
was sexually violated by a man she met through Internet dating is a
"drama queen" who made up the allegations to get attention, the
accused man's lawyer says. The 44-year-old man,
who has interim name suppression, is on trial at Wellington District Court on
three charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. He met the complainant
– a professional woman in her 40s – through NZDating.com, an Internet dating
website on which both had set up profiles. The Crown case is that
the offending happened at the woman's suburban Tawa home on a Sunday morning
last May, during the pair's first face-to-face meeting. The complainant said
after telling the man she preferred to meet people in a cafe or public place
first, she gave him her home address after he repeatedly assured her he could
be trusted. The Crown says shortly
after he arrived at her house he pushed her down on a couch and sexually
violated her in three different ways. She laid a complaint
with police the following day. But in
cross-examination of the complainant yesterday defence lawyer Mike Antunovic
suggested she had made up the complaints to get attention. He said the accused had
every reason to believe the woman was consenting. She had given him the
impression she wanted to have sex, and had engaged in phone sex the day
before. She could have told him to leave immediately but did not, did not
resist him or tell him to stop until the very end, when he did. He said her claims were
"rubbish" and she was making things up as she went along. "You're being a
drama queen about all this." He said she was
embellishing what happened to try to get attention from other people, who
then put pressure on her to go to the police. But the complainant
said it was her decision to go to police. She said she had not consented to
sex that day, but considered it was something that could evolve later. She said she talked
about sex in emails with the accused, and others, as part of
"light-hearted banter", as was common among users of the website. She went along with
phone sex with the accused, without actively participating, as she had been
on her own a long time and wanted to meet someone for a long-term
relationship. Mr Antunovic said if
she was as upset by the events as she claimed she would not have spent the
rest of the day emailing people, meeting friends for coffee and going to the
movies, just like "a normal old Sunday." But the complainant
said she wanted to put it out of her mind and reassure herself not all men in
the world were like the accused. "It was anything
but a normal Sunday," she said. On a police interview
video played to the court the accused denied forcing himself on the woman in
any way and said she was enjoying it. He said he had made it
clear to her that day that he was only interested in sex and nothing more. "She was keen
as," he said. He said when later she
told him things didn't feel right and it wasn't what she wanted, he stopped
and left, after telling her she was a bit mean and unfair. He said shortly before
stopping he had an idea in the back of his mind she might not want to
continue. He said the activity
was consensual and she showed no animosity to him afterwards. The Crown and defence
will make closing addresses tomorrow before Judge Chris Tuohy sums up the
case and the jury retires to consider its verdicts. |
