16-year ordeal ends for victim of pack rape

Warren Graham Hales (left) and Peter Mana McNamara, the other two have name suppression. Picture / Fotopress

A 16-year ordeal for the victim of a gang rape ended yesterday when a jury found four men guilty of luring her to a beach hut and taking turns to violate her.

All four were held in custody and will be sentenced on August 5.

The woman, who was 20 at the time, made a complaint to police last year and returned from Australia to give evidence.

The complainant told the High Court at Wellington intimidation by one of the five men she said raped her was an important reason she did not make a complaint at the time.

The man, who was a public servant, turned up at her work in the days after and tracked her down at the motel where she was staying during a temporary work posting.

"I felt it was intimidation. He came to remind me ... it wouldn't be worth telling that he raped me."

She believed he organised a colleague to telephone her motel when he turned up, to make it seem as though he was invited.

"It increased my fear of him. He hadn't indicated he was going to hurt me in anyway but his intimidation tactics were huge."

She said that she had feared for her safety since the rapes and had not been on an electoral roll or had bills in her name for fear of being traced.

The woman, who is now 37, said that in January 1989 she was lured to a beach hut on the pretext of having lunch with one of the men, and was raped there.

The men had pleaded not guilty and said she was a willing partner in a group sex session.

Key details in the trial have been suppressed.

Two of the men were acquitted of charges of sexual violation with an object.

The verdicts came at the end of 12 hours of deliberation, following a 2 1/2-week trial.

They were returned just before midday by the jury of eight women and four men.

Name suppression was lifted on two of the men.

Peter Mana McNamara, 46, a Mt Maunganui business manager, and Warren Graham Hales, 40, a Papamoa firefighter, were both found guilty of abduction and rape, and did not face any other charges.

The names of the other two men remain suppressed. They were found guilty of rape, abduction and unlawful sexual connection and one of them found guilty of an extra rape charge.

All four men were remanded in custody for pre-sentencing reports and sentencing on August 5.

There were screams and sobs from relatives in the public gallery as the verdicts were read out.

One of the men in the dock shook his head slowly in apparent disbelief, and another visibly flinched - but for the most part, all four maintained a stoic demeanour.

Dismissing the jury, Justice Ronald Young thanked its members for their "great courage and care" over the trial, which came under intense media scrutiny.

"The fact is that the criminal justice system could not continue to operate unless good people like yourselves were prepared to come and do their duty," he said.

He excused them from being called up for jury duty for 10 years in recognition of the particularly stressful nature of the trial.

The jurors, many looking wan and drawn after 12 hours of deliberation over two days, left the room without a backward glance at the four men.

While the judge accepted there were compelling reasons for continuing name suppression for two of the convicted men, he discounted requests from defence lawyers for McNamara and Hales that their names not be published.

As they filed out to the cells, one of the convicted men was seen to gesture and mouth something through the glass partition to two women who were crying uncontrollably.

Although Justice Young had made a special plea to the public before the verdicts not to show emotion out of consideration for the jury, women continued to wail while the courtroom emptied.

The families and supporters left court immediately without comment while media gathered in wait outside.