A woman has described being repeatedly propositioned and indecently touched by a man who told her not to tell anyone and offered her what she called ''hush money''.
She sometimes accepted money from the man, the woman told a jury in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.
In her evidence, she said the man frequently touched her breasts and vaginal area through her clothing and pinched her bottom when they were alone together last year. She kept telling him not to do it but he persisted.
He also sent her inappropriate and sometimes sexually explicit text messages, kept calling her ''my love'' and told her she was beautiful and he wanted her. She made it clear she did not welcome his attentions but said nothing to her employer about his behaviour as she did not want to lose her job, the woman said.
On trial on one charge of attempted sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and 11 charges of indecent assault, seven of which covered ongoing incidents, is 58-year-old Dunedin cleaner Colin Wilson McIntyre.
He denies all the allegations, defence counsel Helgi Henderson telling the jury the woman's complaints were fabrications and untrue.
''More bluntly, they're lies,'' Mr Henderson said in a brief outline of McIntyre's defence.
Except for one incident when the defendant exposed himself to the woman at a work site, ''none of the events happened''. It was all made up, Mr Henderson said.
Prosecuting counsel Craig Power earlier said the man began paying the woman compliments, asking for her cellphone number and saying inappropriate and personal things directly to her and in text messages from a few weeks after meeting her. The defendant started touching her indecently although she told him to stop, that she had a partner, Mr Power said.
In her evidence, the woman said she wondered whether she should say something to the man's boss, who had told her McIntyre was ''a bit simple'' and was looking for friends.
The woman described a specific incident when the defendant exposed himself in front of her, grabbed her hand and put it on his penis then pushed her head down so her mouth touched it.
She told him she ''didn't want any of this'' but he was strong, she said. About a week after the incident when she refused an offer of money from him, he told her he had $100 a week which was hers.
She had accepted $100 perhaps three times when she was broke, she said.
To Mr Henderson, she agreed that while the defendant had sent her large numbers of text messages, she had also sent many to him and had visited his house three times.
She agreed McIntyre had offered her money on many occasions, telling her it was a gift. That was because he ''had a lot of affection for me. He wanted to be with me'', she said. And she had occasionally asked to borrow money from him when she was having financial problems.
The trial continues today.
