A drunk man on a tramping trip allegedly violently pursued a woman and groped another while she slept, a jury has heard.
Crown prosecutor Craig Power told the jury that in September 2022, the two complainants were in a group on a hiking trip in Westland National Park.
Neither woman had met the defendant before the trip but had been chatting with him throughout it.
At the time of the alleged incidents, police were in the area searching for a mentally unwell man.
Mr Power told the court that on September 3, the defendant went into a bunk room and groped a woman over her sleeping bag.
He said that on the same day, the defendant grabbed another woman and tried to kiss her.
She protested and broke away from his grip, but he persisted.
The woman continued walking and he pinned her against the toilet block, held her chest and said he wanted to have sex.
She refused, but the defendant allegedly forcefully sexually violated her with his fingers.
The woman got away but was left with an internal injury which caused her to bleed for days afterwards.
"But it didn’t end there," Mr Power said.
The defendant followed her, pinned her against the wall and tried to kiss her again.
"This is not a case of consent. This is a case of a man helping himself," Mr Power said.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said her client did kiss the woman, but it was consensual.
"The digital penetration is not accepted and any violence ... didn’t happen," she told the jury.
"There’s always two sides to any story."
The defendant denied touching the other woman in her sleep.
Yesterday, the first witness gave evidence that she was touched over her sleeping bag, but "was not bothered" by the act and did not complain to police or notify the hut warden.
"I wouldn’t call it groping; I would call it a playful touch," she said.
She recalled the defendant stopped and apologised after she gave him a stern look.
The defendant was really drunk and she felt embarrassed for him.
"I thought that his intoxication led to the misunderstanding between him and I," the witness explained.
"I only told everyone what happened to me because it was relevant to what happened to [the other complainant]."
Ms Saunderson-Warner alleged the witness had made up the incident only to support her friend’s allegations.
She referred the witness to messages she sent saying she would "do anything" for the other woman.
The witness said she did not make anything up as she was a "severe rule follower".
Judge Michael Turner is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last five days.
