In the High Court at Auckland, the man faces, and denies, one charge of sexual violation by rape. Photo / File
Warning: Distressing content
Prosecutors say a man accused of rape emotionally blackmailed the complainant into staying the night, while defence lawyers say he never threatened her or stopped her from leaving.
These closing arguments have been heard in a trial in the High Court at Auckland before Justice Geoffrey Venning, who has retired to consider the verdict.
The accused - who has name suppression - faces, and denies, one charge of sexual violation by rape.
The defendant and the complainant had met up for a date, first drinking at bars in Auckland's Viaduct in April 2018, the court has heard.
They later ended up at an Auckland motel where, Crown prosecutor Claire Paterson said, the complainant felt drunk - in her description "wobbly but not sick".
They began kissing on the bed and when things began to go further than she would have liked, she made it clear she did not consent, the prosecutor said.
"She said so directly. She was very clear about that."
The Crown alleges he felt entitled to sex because he had paid for drinks and dinner that evening.
As his voice got louder, she asked him not to shout and began to cry, Paterson said.
She told the court she had never been shouted at like that before and she didn't want the neighbours to hear, she said.
"She was stressed out and upset at this point."
She realised she had accidentally misplaced her handbag at the last bar they had visited, meaning she did not have her house keys or her wallet to pay for a taxi.
She tried to make some calls on her phone, which was unreliable due to water damage, the court heard.
"One way or another her phone was playing up and she wasn't able to get through.
"These calls did not connect."
The Crown case says she agreed to stay but was raped later that night.
Paterson said the woman did not respond in any way other than that she was crying.
She did not consent to have sex and in her words; "I don't know how that wasn't obvious to him."
The Crown case is he did know, Paterson said.
In her own evidence, she fairly considered she should have left earlier in the evening and wished she had asked for help but it was clear that she felt trapped, Paterson said.
"The Crown case is simple," she said.
"The defendant was in a position of power … in an environment and circumstances where he was in control. She felt trapped in that motel room. "
By using verbal aggression and emotional blackmail, the defendant managed to get her to stay and made her have sex against her will, she said.
The defence maintains it was consensual sexual activity or at least the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe it was.
Defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper said it was a night where two people met up for drinks, socialised and had casual sex.
The complainant claimed she never wanted to go to the motel but when she arrives rather going to the office or the place next door she goes in for a drink, Cooper said.
"She said 'well I wanted to go home then' but she doesn't does she?"
The complainant told the court when she rebuffed him she had cowered during their argument but she said in her police statement she shouted back, Cooper said.
Her first phone call after any disagreement at the motel, rather than an SOS to a friend, was to the bar they had last visited, she said.
That strengthens the defence argument that any problem then was about her missing belongings, Cooper said.
There was no suggestion the woman had been threatened and her client had not tried to stop the woman from leaving, she said.
"She didn't want to go and that's why she didn't go."
Cooper argued that the complainant had accepted during cross-examination she had not said no to the defendant later that night.
Justice Venning has retired to consider his verdict which he will deliver later this week.
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