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Allegations
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Wellington: A woman
claiming she was gang-raped at Mount Maunganui 16 years ago orchestrated a
lunchtime rendezvous to have sex with several men, one of her four alleged
attackers told police. The accused man, now
aged 46, was interviewed by police last July after the woman lodged a formal
complaint in April 2004, Detective Constable Brian Cameron, of Auckland CIB,
told the High Court at Wellington yesterday. The accused told police
he met the then 20-year-old woman at Mount Maunganui’s former Oceanside Bar
the night before the alleged gang-rape in January 1989. The woman had been
friendly and flirty, telling the accused she wanted to sleep with a work
associate of his who had been in the bar briefly. The accused said he
agreed to help set up a sexual encounter between the woman and his associate
on the condition she also have sex with his friend, Mr Cameron told the
court. The accused, his
40-year-old friend and colleague, and two former work associates aged 47 and
53 are accused of raping and abducting the woman. The two work associates are
also charged with sexual violation; one of whom is also facing a second rape
and sexual violation charge. The men have admitted
having sex with the woman but say it was consensual and deny she was
restrained. The woman - who is now
37 and living in Australia - alleges she had her hands bound and was raped by
five men in an empty building after being lured there on the promise of a
lunch date with the 53-year-old accused whom she had developed a crush on. The fifth man has never
been identified. Details about the case
are heavily suppressed including the identity of the men or their
occupations. The accused and his
colleagues were “stunned” when the woman arrived at their workplace the
following morning. He said he drove her to
an empty building which was often used by his colleagues as a place to have
sex with their girlfriends. The accused said he had
sex with the woman and soon afterwards his work associate arrived with
another colleague. “She was kissing them
both. I was quite surprised how she was getting into it.” The two men had sex
with the woman and kissed her before leaving, just as the accused’s friend
arrived. The accused told police
he left his friend and the woman “holding each other in a loving embrace”. He later saw his friend
drive the woman back to their workplace and she ran back to her nearby work;
he assumed to get changed. She returned later that
day and had a coffee with him. However, the accused’s
friend told police the other three accused men had been standing outside the
building when he arrived, Detective Sergeant Maxwell Taylor told the court
yesterday. The 40-year-old accused
also told police the woman had gone into the workplace for a coffee as soon
as they arrived back from the building. He told police the
woman had not seemed distressed and had put her arm around his waist as he
drove. |
