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Allegations of Sexual
Abuse |
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Four men have been
jailed in the High Court at Wellington for the pack rape of a woman in Mount
Maunganui 16 years ago. The men were found
guilty of abducting and raping the then 20-year-old woman in January 1989. Justice Young said
Peter McNamara, and two other men whose names are suppressed, took part in a
premeditated gang rape and then bragged about having consensual group sex. McNamara, a business
manager from Mt Maunganui, was jailed for seven years, and the other two for
eight and eight and a half years. Young said Warren Hales, 40, a firefighter
from Papamoa who was jailed for five and a half years, played a lesser role
but had lacked strength of character and had succumbed to the pack mentality. Sentencing was based on
legislation in 1989 when the crime was committed. Young described the crime
as pack rape in the worst sense and deeply disgraceful. Young said the
ringleader in the pack rape successfully intimidated the victim to stop her
complaining. He said the attack was planned, with one of the unnamed men who
acted as the effective ringleader later turning up at the victim's motel unit
and intimidating her. The 37-year-old victim,
who now lives in Australia, broke down as she told the court of the damage
done to her life and that the rape was like a noose around her neck. She said
it affected her health, career and relationships with men and told how she
had gone from a self assured woman to someone anxious and unable to look
after her self. Jurors spent more than
two weeks hearing evidence and submissions, and took 12 hours to deliver the
guilty verdicts. The complainant said she was duped into going for a lunch
date only to find herself raped by five men - one of whom remains
unidentified. Defence lawyers said the woman was lying and the sex was
consensual. After the verdict there
was a huge outpouring of emotion from the public gallery with family members
of the accused bursting into tears. And they were again in court for the
sentencing, describing the convicted men as good family men providing a
service to their community - prompting tears from some of the prisoners. |
