A young man has been acquitted of a sexual assault for which he was violently beaten when the accusation was made 14 months ago.
Benjamin Michael Arana Samuel (21) was charged with sexually violating the woman at Kaitangata on Boxing Day, 2010.
He denied the allegation and was found not guilty by the jury which heard his trial in the District Court at Invercargill last week.
The Crown summary of the incident said several of the complainant's associates went looking for Mr Samuel after they learned of the rape allegation on the morning of Boxing Day, 2010.
They found him walking along the road out of Kaitangata and attacked him, dragging him into their car and taking him to a garage in Kaitangata, where he was severely beaten by four peopleHe was repeatedly punched and kicked about the head, kicked in the genitals and struck with a fold-up chair and a pool cue. One of the attackers also threatened to cut off his penis.
The beating left Mr Samuel with a broken jaw needing surgical repairs using a metal plate and four screws, bruised and swollen eyes, cut lips, multiple bruising to the back and shoulders and a superficial wound to the back of his head.
Four people pleaded guilty several months ago to a variety of charges from the incident, which Judge Stephen O'Driscoll described as "a vigilante response" to the young woman's allegation. The four were sentenced late last year, but all details of the case and the sentencing were suppressed until the outcome of Mr Samuel's trial on the rape charge.
Brendon John Elers (33), shearer, and his partner, Tina Tipui Weepu (22), shed hand, were both sent to jail, Elers for four years and seven months - four years for five assaults on Mr Samuel, including one with a weapon, and one with intent to injure, and for threatening him with grievous bodily harm, with an extra seven months for an unrelated burglary; Weepu for a total of 12 months - five months for assaulting Mr Samuel with intent to injure him, an additional five months on unrelated charges of dishonesty and another two months for using the telephone to make a bomb threat when her partner was appearing in the Balclutha court last year.
Weepu was also ordered to pay a specified amount of reparation.
The two other offenders, Rosina Mereana Elers (27), mother, and Chance Tipa (24), shearer, escaped imprisonment because of their lesser involvement in the attack on Mr Samuel.
Rosina Elers was sentenced to four months' community detention and 200 hours' community work for assaulting him with a fold-up chair and a pool cue and Tipa was sentenced to 100 hours' community work on one charge of Crimes Act assault. He was driving the car while Brendon Elers elbowed Mr Samuels in the head.
