Woman called husband during alleged rape

Invercargill District Court. PHOTO: ODT FILES
Invercargill District Court. PHOTO: ODT FILES
Warning: This story contains graphic content

A woman texted her husband saying “I rape” before calling him so he could hear her alleged assault and come to her rescue, a court has heard. 

The man accused, who cannot be named, is before the Invercargill District court today defending eight charges relating to the alleged rape in the early hours of December 8, 2022. 

The court was told the complainant; while being attacked in the backseat of the defendant’s car at a rest-stop on the mountain, she was able to text her husband something like “I rape” before calling him. 

He heard her verbal protests and called the police.  

The jury watched her evidential video interview, in which she said she was then sent a link by police, tracking her location and asking her to take a photo. 

The woman said she clicked the link and a photo of the man's face between her legs was taken and sent to the authorities.  

Defence counsel Peter Redpath said there were sexual relations that morning between the two but that it was “between two willing and mutually consenting adults”.  

The Crown said the two met after a long night of partying at the ski-town bars and the defendant offered to drive the woman home.  

Crown prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas told the jury that they were going to see CCTV footage later of the pair kissing before they set off on their drive.  

Ms Thomas said the man, instead of taking the victim home, took her up the winding road of Coronet Peak and crashed into a barrier. 

She then said the complainant blacked out and came to, naked in the backseat of his car, with him sexually assaulting her.  

The woman said the "maybe seven” drinks she had that night combined with her medication, an antihistamine, and the whiplash caused by the crash caused her to feel not in control of her body.  

While he was raping her, she was lying face down in the back seat and managed to open the car door and fall half-out, she said.  

Her attacker then allegedly said “come back” and pulled her back into the car.  

“I think he maybe thought I was enjoying it because he was saying that I was ... and he was really enjoying it,” the complainant said. 

“... and I was like stop, I need to go home.” 

After allegedly being violated the woman recalled her husband finally arriving and telling the defendant to “get off my wife”.  

The man, who at first tried to deny anything had happened, started saying “that I wanted it, and I led him on”. 

Lying on the gravel, naked, cold and unable to move her legs, she told the interviewing detective what happened next was hazy, but she noticed some uniforms in her periphery. 

The man drove off but was caught by police a short time later, she assumed, as she remembers seeing police cars gathered on the mountain on her way to the hospital.  

Mr Redpath told the jury a significant element of this case would be their assessment of the complainant and her level of intoxication during the alleged assault.  

“If you’re drunk that doesn’t mean you can’t consent, so keep that in mind,” he said. 

Judge Duncan Harvey told the jury that the trial will go on for four to five days. 

 

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