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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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A woman who claims she
was gang-raped at Mt Maunganui 16 years ago changed from being outgoing to
withdrawn and unhappy after the alleged attack, a former colleague told the
High Court at Wellington yesterday. The two women worked
for a Hamilton-based company but were based at Mt Maunganui for a six-week
period over the summer of 1989. The complainant, then
aged 20, says she was gang-raped by five men in January 1989 after being lured
into an empty building on the promise of a date with a man she liked. Four of those men are
now on trial for rape and abduction after the woman - now 37 and living in
Australia - laid a complaint with police in April last year. The fifth man
has never been identified. The identities and
occupations of the accused men are suppressed by the court. They admit having
group sex with the woman but say it was consensual and deny she was
restrained. The former colleague
told the court the two women met the men through their work at Mt Maunganui. Two of the men had
regularly visited the women's workplace. There had been flirting
between one of the men - whom she described as large, muscular and
overbearing - and the rape complainant. "I felt there were
sparks or a connection between the two of them." The former colleague
said the woman left work one day around midday to have lunch with the man. However, when she
returned, her behaviour had changed. She was no longer bubbly and friendly.
"She was not her usual self, she seemed withdrawn, she didn't seem
happy." Shortly after, she took
off unexpectedly, not returning for several days. Cross-examined by
defence lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, the former colleague admitted that when she
was first interviewed she could not remember who the woman had wanted to hide
from but had later remembered |
