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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse in NZ |
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A New Plymouth jury took less than
an hour yesterday to acquit Kerin James Lewis Baldwin (17) of raping a former
schoolmate. The Crown had alleged that Baldwin
lured the complainant to his house on false pretences, dragged her
downstairs, locked her in his bedroom and sexually violated her. Yesterday, defence counsel Julian
Hannam said the victim had given unreliable evidence, had been extremely
intoxicated when she was making the allegations. He said she had, in fact, never
been at the accused's house on the night in question. "She started telling stories
that she got stuck with," he said. Mr Hannam said the alleged victim
had a habit of becoming extremely emotional when she was drunk. Her evidence
also did not match her initial statement at vital times.
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