Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay businessman accused of underpaying 16-year-old girl for sex

Hawkes Bay Today
12 Jun, 2019 05:04 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A Hawke's Bay businessman is on trial in Napier.

A Hawke's Bay businessman is on trial in Napier.

A businessman who agreed to pay a 16-year-old girl for sex had underpaid her, a jury has been told.

The Hawke's Bay businessman, who has interim name suppression, appeared in the Napier District Court before a seven man/five woman jury and Judge Michael Crosbie charged under the (Prostitution Reform Act) with obtaining sexual services from a person under 18.

The alleged offending dates back to August/September in 2006 in Napier, and involved a girl then aged 16.

The man's lawyer Chris Tennet said the man told police "I did not have sex with the woman, I didn't pay her and she was never at my house," after they questioned him in 2018.

Crown prosecutor Richard Jenson said it was unlawful for a person to obtain sexual services from a person under 18 years under the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Jenson told the jury "he (the accused) told police it never happened, this trial is likely to come down whether you accept the woman's account of the incident, whether it happened or not," he said.

"He took a 16-year-old young woman back to his home where he agreed to pay her $180 to have sex with him. While they were having sex he wished to remove the condom he was wearing, she declined but then agreed on the basis he would pay her extra."

The woman, now in her late 20s, said she knew of the man as he once visited people she was living with.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said in 2006 they bumped into each other in Napier. The man asked her to accompany him on a business trip and said he would buy her a dress and dinner, but she declined.

"It wasn't worth my time," she said.

The woman said her circumstances later changed after someone close to her died, and she became "pretty messed up" and used drugs to "blank her emotions".

She contacted the accused and asked if he wanted to "catch up."

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Crown to accused 'You've slipped up haven't you?'

12 Jun 11:34 PM

She and the man agreed he would pay her $180 for sex.

The woman described her interaction with the man, as outlined by the Crown, and said the man agreed to pay her extra.

Afterwards, the woman was handed money in an envelope. She counted it when she got home, and realised the man had not paid her extra money.

The trial is scheduled to end Tuesday.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

10 Jul 12:56 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings petrol station site

10 Jul 12:00 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

09 Jul 10:31 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

10 Jul 12:56 AM

Kaweka is the first hospital to be built in Hawke's Bay in almost a century.

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings petrol station site

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings petrol station site

10 Jul 12:00 AM
Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

09 Jul 10:31 PM
Watch: Close call as ute nearly hit by heritage train

Watch: Close call as ute nearly hit by heritage train

09 Jul 08:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP