Well-known Bay of Plenty man denies raping teenager

A Bay man is on trial in the Tauranga District Court defending a charge of sexual violation. Photo / File

A well-known Bay of Plenty man accused of raping a teenage girl in Wellington says he has no memory of even meeting her.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual violation by rape at his judge-alone trial in the Tauranga District Court yesterday. The woman, now aged in her 30s, told the court she and a friend were at a bar when she saw the defendant drinking. She said she immediately recognised him.

"I was especially excited because I had followed his [the defendant's] career since childhood and I was quite starstruck ... He was famous and you know what that is like," she said.

The woman began drinking with the defendant but later felt "out of control and intoxicated".

Her next memory was of being half in, half out of a taxi, throwing up over herself with the defendant - who has name suppression - behind her, helping her into the cab, she told the court.

The woman said she did not recall the taxi trip or how they got to the defendant's room but she woke up in a bed with the defendant having sexual intercourse with her.

She felt "gross and fuzzy" and just wanted to get out of there, she said.

The defendant gave her taxi chits to get home and phoned a few days later to ask whether she had told anyone, she told the court.

The woman said the defendant knew she was a "school kid" because she told him so. She said she did not tell her parents about the incident but later told a friend she had sex with the defendant after rumours began circulating.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Paul Wicks, QC, the woman agreed her memories were "snapshots and fragmented".

Wicks suggested the woman's evidence was "new memories" not mentioned to police during her videotaped interview last year.

She denied this, saying her evidence in the witness box was in response to questions.

A friend of the complainant who was with her at one stage on the night in question gave evidence that she had recognised the defendant in the bar and had seen the complainant drinking with him.

In a video-recorded police interview, the defendant denied the allegations.

"I don't have any recall of any of this. I don't recall that time and I'm not trying to play stupid. I'm genuinely sorry this has happened not just for me but for this lady," he said.

Judge Paul Mabey, QC is expected to deliver his decision today.