A Dunedin youth accused of raping a woman in her Dunedin home last August is on trial in Invercargill.
George Tupou Tahiri (18), unemployed, denies one charge of sexual violation by rape. The charge arises from events said to have happened in Dunedin early on August 13 last year.
Tahiri's jury trial began in the Invercargill District Court yesterday afternoon and is expected to be completed early next week. The hearing is before Judge Stephen O'Driscoll.
The Crown says Tahiri raped the complainant in her bed while she was asleep after drinking alcohol and taking prescription medication. Tahiri was someone she trusted because she had known him for many years. And, at the time, he was in a relationship with the daughter of one of her good friends.
In his opening address to the jury, Crown counsel Craig Power said the complainant had been drinking with friends at a house in South Dunedin before going to a local hotel with Tahiri and some of the other people. She continued drinking and dancing before deciding to go to her friend's house.
Tahiri went with her to see his pregnant girlfriend, but the house was locked. The complainant told him he could stay at her home, on the couch or in a spare room, or he could telephone someone to collect him. She then drove him to her home where he asked to use her computer to access Facebook. She logged him in, then took her prescription medicine and went to bed.
When the complainant woke up, she realised someone had had sex with her. The accused was gone and so was her car.
Tahiri pleaded guilty in February to a charge of dishonestly taking the vehicle, Mr Power said.
The complainant found evidence in her kitchen of food having been eaten. She went to her friend's home and she and her friend went looking for Tahiri and for her car.
The friend would say she had previously seen the complainant take her medication and that it "zonked her out" if she mixed it with alcohol, Mr Power told the jury.
There would be medical evidence that the most common effects of consuming alcohol and the particular medications were excessive sedation, muscle relaxation and inability to recall events.
When police spoke to Tahiri, he agreed he had been one of the people drinking with the complainant and that he had gone with her to her home, Mr Power said.
Tahiri told the police the complainant tried to kiss him but he told her she was too old for him. He said he had used the internet, cooked himself some eggs on toast and left after the complainant had gone to bed and was asleep. He denied taking anything belonging to her and he denied having any sexual contact with her.
But scientific evidence would be that semen on several swabs from a medical examination of the complainant gave a DNA analysis consistent with the semen being from Tahiri, Mr Power told the jury.
And he suggested the fact Tahiri lied about having sexual intercourse with the complainant and about taking her car could be seen as significantly affecting his credibility.
Scientific analysis of blood and urine samples from the complainant showed the presence of alcohol and cannabis and the medications citalopram, diazepam, quetiapine and temazepam.
The complainant began giving evidence yesterday and will continue her testimony today.
