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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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A woman who was "looking for
a bed buddy" on the internet instead found a man now accused in the
Palmerston North District Court of raping her. The 27-year-old woman met the
Wellington man on NZDating.com at the beginning of June last year. They arranged to meet on June 9 at
her Palmerston North home but the date resulted in an accusation of rape and
the man's appearance in front of a jury yesterday. Wearing black trousers, a black
woollen jumper and a gold wedding band, the man pleaded not guilty to one
count of rape and another of sexual violation. The man's name and occupation are
suppressed. A formal application by the Manawatu Standard to have the
suppression order lifted was declined by Judge Nevin Dawson. In his opening address, Crown
prosecutor Andru Isac told the jury the accused drove from Wellington to
Palmerston North to meet the woman at her home. "On the way up the accused
sent a text message to a third party," he said, saying he was heading to
Palmerston North to "sus out" a sexual encounter. The pair spent time getting to
know each other, the accused was introduced to the woman's sister and
flatmate, before retiring to her bedroom. "Things started reasonably
innocuously, reasonably innocently, but got rapidly out of control." The accused forced himself on the
woman but she spurned his advances, Mr Isac said. Undeterred, he allegedly violated
the woman before pulling her on top of him and raping her. "This is a rather disturbing
case of a woman being subjected to the prolonged, forceful and predatory
intentions of the accused. He simply wouldn't take no for an answer." The accused left soon after,
telling the woman he wasn't going to see her again, Mr Isac said. But soon after he left, the
accused sent her a text message that read: "I feel bad, sorry for raping
you." In another message he said:
"I'll understand if you don't want anything to do with me." "They are a confession by the
accused of the sexual assault and the fact he knew exactly what he'd
done," Mr Isac said. In a brief opening statement, the
accused's lawyer Val Nisbet urged the jury not to make up its mind before it
had heard all the evidence. He dismissed Mr Isac's portrayal
of the complainant as a shy, reserved woman who was preyed upon by the
accused. "She was neither shy or
afraid. There was mutual foreplay, there was mutual sex and when she wanted
it to stop, it stopped." Mr Nisbet reminded the jury the
woman claims she was straddling the accused throughout the incident. The woman was the first witness to
give evidence yesterday afternoon. She said the man emailed her after
reading her profile on the internet dating site. Her profile said she was
"looking for a bed buddy" but she told the court she just wanted
"a male friend to hang out with, to chat with". The woman looked at his profile
before replying. The two chatted on line and exchanged
email and text messages over the next few days. "He asked if I wanted to meet
up with him and I said maybe. I'm not one to meet strangers straight away,
I'm too scared." The man made suggestive comments
but she told the court she made it clear she just wanted "a chat and a
coffee". She said she got cold feet the day
of the meeting and tried to put it off. But the man persisted and she gave
in, she said. "I got the impression he
wanted more than a chat". (Proceeding) |
