Mathew Stephens is on trial after being accused of assisting a person under 18 in providing commercial sexual services and receiving money from those services. Photo / George Heard
Mathew Stephens is on trial after being accused of assisting a person under 18 in providing commercial sexual services and receiving money from those services. Photo / George Heard
A man accused of organising prostitution deals for a 15-year-old and taking some of her earnings has repeatedly denied the offending, calling her a “vindictive, jealous” girl who has made up the story because he slept with one of her friends.
“She’s come up with this vindictive wee charge because I got with one of her friends. She’s trying to incriminate me,” he told an officer shortly after his arrest in 2021.
Mathew Walters Stephens, 44, who denies any involvement in organising the prostitution deals, appeared at the Christchurch District Court on Monday for a trial set to run for three days.
He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of assisting persons under 18 in providing commercial sexual services and two charges of receiving earnings from commercial sexual services by persons under 18, under the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.
Some of the charges are representative, meaning they happened more than once.
On Monday Crown prosecutor Patrick Brand told the jury of the alleged offending took place between October 2016 and June 2018.
Mathew Stephens appeared at the Christchurch District Court facing charges under the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. Photo / George Heard
The complainant, who has name suppression, said she met Stephens when she was 15 and was very “mentally fragile”. She was also addicted to drugs, using methamphetamine, cannabis, speed and MDMA and was already involved in sex work.
The Crown alleges Stephens introduced himself to the woman, who is now 20, and told her that he sorts out deals for girls wanting to make money through sex work. He told her he was there to protect her and make her feel safe.
It’s also alleged Stephens would organise clients for the girl and drive her to their place or a hotel room, instructing her to have sex with them before taking $100 from her earnings.
On Tuesday a police interview, done shortly after Stephens was arrested in September 2021 following an investigation into teenage prostitution in Christchurch, was played to the court.
In July 2021 the woman called Stephens and asked about their time together when the alleged offending took place.
The call was recorded by police and can be used as evidence against the accused. However, due to a technical error, the phone call was unable to be recorded.
In the interview with Detective Natalie Deuchrass, who was the officer in charge of the investigation, Stephens repeatedly denied any involvement with setting up prostitution deals for the woman or taking money from her.
He told Deuchrass that he met the woman and her friend in 2017 at a party and liked her as he thought she was pretty. He said she told him she was 18 but he had his doubts. He was in his late 30s at the time.
“If you see a pretty girl, it doesn’t matter how old they are, as long as they’re legal, obviously,” Stephens said.
He took the woman on some dates and sometimes drove her and her friend to parties but said he was not aware the woman was involved in prostitution.
“I definitely did not contract her out, it’s ridiculous to even think that. It’s crazy,” he said.
Mathew Stephens appeared at the Christchurch District Court after allegations he was involved in organising prostitution deals for a 15-year-old girl. Photo / George Heard
Stephens said the woman started becoming addicted to methamphetamine and was “always asking for money” so he ended the relationship.
He said there were “flaws in her story all round” and she made the whole thing up to get back at him as he had slept with one of her friends.
‘He-said, she-said’ case
Crown prosecutor Courtney Martyn gave the closing submissions, telling the jury this is a difficult trial as it was a case of “he-said, she-said”.
Martyn said the woman is a “credible and upfront” witness who was candid about the things she couldn’t remember.
She said the woman gave detailed accounts of what happened without exaggeration and was adamant Stephens drove her to prostitution jobs he had organised for her and took $100 of her earnings each time.
Martyn said the jury can be assured Stephens “definitely knew” the woman was under the age of 18 and while she admitted having some slight lapses of memory, she is not mistaken.
“The complainant is not mistaken. She wasn’t so riddled with drugs and sleep-deprived that she got it wrong,” Martyn told the jury.
Stephens’ lawyer Joshua Grainger told the jury the woman’s memory is “flawed” and has “misidentified” Stephens, although she may genuinely believe it was him involved in the offending.
He said the woman’s drug addictions at the time has left her memory “hazy” and there were mistakes and limitations in her accounts.
Grainger reminded the jury that this is “not a court of morals” and he wasn’t asking them to like Stephens but rather ask themselves if there was evidence to convict him of the charges.
He said there was “no evidence at all” that Stephens was involved in the organisation of prostitution, except for a witness that had “memory fog”.
He told the jury if they don’t know who is telling the truth, they must find that Stephens is not guilty as they cannot be sure beyond reasonable doubt he was involved in the alleged offending.
Judge Gerard Lynch will sum up the case to the jury on Wednesday morning before they deliberate their verdict.
