Leading entertainment figure trial: Defendant tells jury he didn’t lie, but he was ‘hiding a lot’

A leading figure in the New Zealand entertainment industry is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner

A leading entertainment figure facing serious sexual assault allegations who has admitted up to 40 affairs says he didn’t lie to his wife, he was just “hiding a lot”.

Crown Solicitor Anna Pollett began her cross-examination today of a man on trial in the High Court in Rotorua, suggesting he must be a man good at living a life with a “considerable amount of deceit”.

The defendant denied that allegation.

The man, who has name suppression until at least the end of the trial, is defending 25 charges relating to nine women including rape, sexual assault, and drug-related offending.

The defence opened its case this week and the man has taken the stand to give evidence following eight weeks of Crown evidence. He told the jury he had sex with up to 40 women who weren’t his wife over the years.

He is accused of using his position in the industry to get what he wanted sexually from women but the defence alleges the women have re-imagined consensual sexual encounters as being “creepy” to support a woman who made the first complaint to police.

The defence alleges police “went searching” for more complainants to boost their “numbers” when the sexual contact with the man was in fact consensual.

The defendant’s wife, who gave evidence on May 24, has been in the court’s public gallery this week.

Pollett asked the man if he agreed he lived a triple life - a family man, a businessman and a “dark side”, meaning someone who took drugs and had sex with several women who weren’t his wife.

The defendant did not agree.

Pollett asked if it was true he needed to get good at lying and was good a convincing people of things that weren’t true.

The defendant didn’t agree, saying: “I wasn’t lying, but I was hiding a lot. If [his wife] had asked me I would say.”

“[His wife] didn’t mind me sleeping with other women as long as I didn’t fall in love, but I did and that’s when she got angry.”

He said his wife didn’t mind him having sex with other women as long as he wasn’t lying.

He said he didn’t offer to communicate to her he was having casual sex with other women but if she asked, he would tell her.

Pollett asked the defendant about his drug use and he admitted at the start he used methamphetamine because he didn’t have much money and it helped him “get through the weekends”. He said cocaine wasn’t around much in New Zealand but, towards the end, he was using cocaine more.

He had earlier said in evidence he had been clean of all drugs and alcohol for two years.

He said that at the time of his drug use, he preferred cocaine it was “more classy” and public opinion was that it wasn’t as bad as methamphetamine.

Pollett asked the defendant if he had a confident personality and a “fake it till you make it” mindset.

He disagreed.

She asked if he accepted if it was a pattern of his to target certain women and if they said “no” he would keep going until he got what he wanted.

“That was the sort of man you had become. You were not taking no for an answer.”

Pollett asked if he got angry and agitated if he didn’t get what he wanted.

The defendant said “no”.

In total, the defendant has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of indecent assault, four of sexual violation by rape, three of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two of attempted sexual violation, two of burglary, one of assault with intent to commit sexual violation, one of supplying MDMA, one of supplying methamphetamine and one of willfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The trial is before Justice Layne Harvey.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.