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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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A Teenage girl sobbed as she gave
evidence yesterday against a New Plymouth boy she went to primary school with
and who is accused of raping her. Kerin James Lewis Baldwin (17)
denies raping the girl, who was 15 at the time, on January 10. He appeared in the New Plymouth
District Court yesterday before Judge Louis Bidois and a jury. The Crown alleges that Baldwin
lured the victim to his house on false pretences, dragged her downstairs,
locked her in his bedroom and sexually violated her. "He tricked her to go to his
house, by saying his sister wanted to see her, then raped her," Crown
solicitor Justin Marinovich said. The girl, who cannot be named,
gave her evidence behind screens. She told the court that she knew
the accused through family members. She said he knocked at the front
door of her house about 1am, after a party there had wound up. She walked to Baldwin's house to
see his sister about five minutes later. Once inside, he closed the front
door and grabbed her by the arm. "He was trying to drag me
down the stairs, but I didn't want to go. I was scared." The girl said Baldwin pulled her
into his bedroom, jammed the door shut with an object and pushed her on the
bed. He took her pants off and had sex
without her consent. "I tried to push him off. I
was pretty upset." Mr Marinovich said Baldwin chased
the victim to the laundry when she escaped from his room. She hit him and ran home, then
told her mother and sister what had happened. The police were contacted after
she visited a nurse for the emergency contraceptive pill. Defence counsel Julian Hannam said
that the Crown's evidence would be disputed. Baldwin's defence is that he and
the girl did not have sex. The trial is expected to continue
today. |
