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Allegations
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Wellington: A man accused
of gang-rape at Mt Maunganui 16 years ago told the High Court at Wellington
yesterday the alleged victim is a liar and he will go to his grave knowing he
is innocent. The 53-year-old is the
first of four men accused of raping a 20-year-old woman in January 1989 to
give evidence. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, abduction, and
two counts of unlawful sexual connection. The woman - now 37 and
living in Australia - alleges the men lured her into an empty building on the
promise of a lunch date with one of the accused, on whom she had a crush.
There, she says, she was restrained, raped, forced to perform oral sex, and
violated. The identity of the
accused and many elements of the trial are suppressed. The man told the court
yesterday he had accompanied a work colleague to the building with the hope
of participating in group sex. The woman had been a willing sexual partner
and they had both enjoyed the experience, he said. Under cross examination
by crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh, the man admitted there was a “startling
difference” between the two accounts. “She’s lying,” the man
said. “She know’s she’s lying. I know she’s lying. I know what I saw.” The man questioned the
woman’s claims he ejaculated on her stomach. “This was consensual group sex.
She would have been on the pill, so why would I have?” However, he admitted he
could not remember ejaculating inside her. No condoms were used
and the woman had not seemed concerned about the spread of sexually
transmitted diseases, he said. Police began
investigating the incident after the woman lodged a formal complaint in April
last year. When the man and his
colleague discovered they were under investigation, there had been a “flurry
of contact” between them, Mr Zarifeh said. The complainant said he
and the other man knew their phone calls might be intercepted by police. “We thought it was best
to meet in person so we could discuss her lies and our innocence. “We were
under pressure. We needed each other’s support.” The pair discussed elements
of the case, such as how they were going to fund their defence, he said. “We certainly weren’t
going to conspire to get up here and tell lies,” he told the court. Who was telling lies
was the essence of the trial “in a nutshell”, the man told Mr Zarifeh. “I
know I will go to my grave knowing we’re innocent, because I know we are.” The man - who was 36
and separated from his wife in 1989 - said he had never, and could never rape
any woman. “Without sounding
arrogant, at that particular time I had no problem with female partners;
having sex with them or meeting them. “I’ve never had to
resort to that. I could never rape a woman, and I’ve never needed to.” Defence lawyer Paul
Mabey, QC, called a former male friend of the woman whom she visited after
the incident. The woman told the
court last week she had fled Mt Maunganui within days of the alleged
gang-rape because she was so upset and felt intimidated seeing the men again.
However, the
64-year-old man - whose name is suppressed to protect the woman’s identity -
told the court she had visited him at the end of January, possibly weeks
after the incident. The woman had caught a
bus to meet him, as she usually did, and had not urgently hired a rental car,
as she had testified, the man said. The trial continues
today before Justice Ronald Young and a jury of four men and eight women. |
