A jury has been chosen in the trial of a 35-year-old man charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in west Auckland.
A jury of six women and six men were empanelled this morning for the trial of Aukusitino Fa'atafa in the High Court at Auckland.
Fa'atafa has pleaded not guilty to all five charges, including sexual violation by rape, forcing the victim to smoke cannabis to render her incapable of resistance, two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection and one of detaining a girl with intent to have sexual connection.
The girl was attacked in April last year in the Pt Chevalier-Waterview area in west Auckland, after she was followed by a man for about a kilometre to a BP station on Great North Road in Waterview.
After shopping at the service station and walking back along Great North Road, she was dragged into the Oakley Creek walkway, and allegedly subjected to a prolonged sexual attack.
The trial before Justice Peter Woodhouse is scheduled to last eight days.
