A woman who had been drinking all night told the court she did not remember parts of the evening because of the trauma of being raped — not because she was drunk.
The trial began before Judge Duncan Harvey in the Invercargill District Court on Monday.
In his opening, Crown lawyer Mike Brownlie said the woman had been raped at a friend’s house after drinking with friends at the basketball stadium and Traffers pub.
When being questioned by Crown lawyer Sarah McKenzie yesterday the complainant, who has name suppression, said she had about six beers before getting to the house.
"I just continued to drink beers and just had one drink of pre-mix [vodka]."
She said she had slowed down her drinking during the night.
The woman confirmed she had replied to a Snapchat message of a man she believed had also raped her.
"Not sure what to say, I’m just a bit of a mess at the moment. Please don’t tell anybody about it or do heaps of people already know."
During cross-examination from Collier’s lawyer Sonia Vidal, the woman said she could not remember what time she arrived at the house.
She believed she woke up to one man raping her, then could not remember how that episode ended. She then awoke again and thought the same man was raping her. It was not until she spotted him in the kitchen she realised it was not him but Collier.
"I was confused."
Ms Vidal went on to ask the woman if she was mistaken about what happened because of the consumption of alcohol.
"No it’s very clear what happened.’’
Ms Vidal: ‘‘That you’ve drunk to the point there are blanks in your memory."
Complainant: "I think it’s a trauma response that I don’t remember what happened to me. There are parts of me that are glad I don’t know what happened."
A man who was also at the party said he talked to the complainant during the night.
"She was pretty happy; we were both really drunk by then."
The man fell asleep on an l-shaped couch where the complainant also ended up falling asleep.
He said when he got up during the night, the complainant and the defendant were lying together on the couch. When he got up to go outside and be sick, he said the complainant and the defendant got up and went to the kitchen.
When he came back about 10 or 15 minutes later they were lying together on the couch.
It was then the woman sat up and seemed to be distraught.
She told him she had a mind blank and did not know what had happened and asked him to sit on the couch between herself and the defendant.
"I assumed it was something to do with what happened between them on the couch. She just didn’t want to be near him."
The woman rang the man the next day to see if he remembered anything that happened.
Evidence of Dr Rachael Green, the doctor who had conducted a forensic examination of the woman on the day of the alleged rape, had her evidence read out it court.
Dr Green was contacted by police in September 2019 to query where sample two had been taken from. She confirmed it had been taken from the complainant’s posterior fornix.
Her report stated while no injuries were found on the body it was quite common for there to be no injuries on people who alleged sexual violation had taken place.
There was no evidence to show whether the sex had been consensual or not.
The trial continues today.
