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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Wellington: One of four
men accused of pack raping a woman at Mt Maunganui 16 years ago told police he
had never forced sex on anyone. In the High Court at
Wellington yesterday, Detective Patricia Clarke said she spoke to the man at
his home on July 19 last year. She said she wanted to
talk to him about a woman’s allegations of sexual violation. The accused (53) talked
to a lawyer and said he would not make a statement. When told he would be
charged with sex charges and abduction, the man said, “I am completely
innocent”, Det Clarke said. “I totally deny these
charges. I am completely innocent and I have never forced sex on anyone in my
life,” he said when formally charged. He and three other men,
aged 40, 46, and 47, are on trial charged with detaining a woman with intent
to have sex with her and raping her in January, 1989. Two of them also face
two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and one faces
another rape charge. They have pleaded not guilty. Justice Ron Young has
suppressed key details, including the accused men’s names. Giving evidence earlier
in the week, the woman — now 37 and living in Australia with her husband and
three children — said she thought she was being taken to lunch with one of
the men but instead was taken to a hut where her hands were bound, five men
raped her and one violated her with an object. Details of that object are
suppressed. Yesterday, a witness
said he had been told one of the accused men said he had not had sex with the
woman because he had been unable to get an erection. Jason Hutchings said he
spent many summers at Mount Maunganui where he met two of the accused men,
who were aged 30 and 24 at the time of alleged rape. On one occasion, he had
been “hanging around” with the 30-year-old accused and another six
acquaintances. “We were in a group of
young guys talking about sexual experiences,” he told the court. The accused told the
acquaintances a story about a group sex experience he had had with a
“good-looking blonde girl”, Mr Hutchings said. “He said he was going
to have sex with the girl and had organised the [empty building] for it to
happen. “Four of them had sex
with the girl.” The court heard earlier
that another younger man had been on the balcony of the building while four
men were inside with the woman. The woman has told the
court that after the four men left, the younger man came inside and raped her
as well. She said he was nervous and only semierect. However, the man’s
lawyer, Rachael Adams, has said her client would testify he had consensual
sex with the woman, after which the pair lay in a loving embrace. Mr Hutchings said in
the 30-yearold’s story it had been a freezing cold day. “They’d invited [the
24-year-old] in to have sex with her as well, but he couldn’t get an erection
because it was too cold. “That was the punch line
of the story.” The group sex had
sounded like it was “fully consensual”, he said. There was no mention of an
object being involved. A friend of the
30-year-old man said earlier yesterday his mate had excitedly prepared for a
sexual encounter the morning of the alleged attack by taking an old mattress
to the empty building. Later that day, the
30-year-old had seen his friend again and had told him about group sex
involving an object used as a sexual implement, the friend told the court. The trial, before
Justice Ronald Young and a jury, will resume on Monday. |
