A jury has found an Invercargill man guilty of unlawful detention but not guilty of rape or unlawful sexual connection.
The trial for Anaru Morgan (22) began before Justice Cameron Mander in the High Court at Invercargill on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Crown and defence solicitors made closing statements and Justice Mander summed up the case, before the jury retired to deliberate about 4pm.
The jury returned with its verdict about 1pm yesterday.
In his summing up, Crown prosecutor Riki Donnelly asked the jury to rely on the accounts of the complainant giving no prejudice to her job.
The Crown’s case was that Morgan had detained the woman, who was a self-described masseuse, at a motel room in Invercargill in March last year. She performed sexual acts for him because she was scared she would be hurt, he said.
‘‘She did what she did because she was fearful.’’
Despite the defence claiming she had made up the story because she needed money to pay the rent, it did not make sense because evidence from the motel’s staff showed she had about $400 in her room on the day and they never had any problem with her in previous financial dealings, he said.
Defence counsel Hugo Young told the jury they should rely on Morgan’s account.
If Morgan had premeditated a rape, as the Crown claimed, he would have covered his tracks better than calling the masseuse from his home landline or entering the reception looking for her unit.
If Morgan was guilty he would not have called the woman the following day for another booking, Mr Young said.
‘‘This would be incredibly stupid,’’he said
Mr Young said the woman had contradicted herself in her account of the incident, changing her story about what sexual acts had been performed.
There was no DNA or other evidence to corroborate her account.
Justice Mander remanded Morgan in custody to appear for sentencing on December 7.
