Justice Geoffrey Venning delivered the verdict today. Photo / File
Warning: Distressing content.
A man accused of raping a woman in an Auckland motel has been found guilty, sparking an outburst in court.
Justice Geoffrey Venning delivered the verdict this morning in the High Court at Auckland.
"In short, I accept the evidence of the complainant," Justice Venning said.
"That evidence has made me sure."
"You're so full of s**t mate. You have no reason to convict me," the defendant - who has name suppression - said.
The High Court judge remained calm and unperturbed by the outburst.
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 earlier heard.
They later ended up at an Auckland motel where, Crown prosecutor Claire Paterson earlier told the court, 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 case was that he had 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 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."
She agreed to stay but was raped later that night.
During the trial, the defence case had argued it was consensual sexual activity or at least the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe it was.
Defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper had said it was a night where two people met up for drinks, socialised and had casual sex.
There had been consensual kissing at the bars they visited, she said, and to most reasonable people at that point it would have looked like were enjoying themselves.
"You're sharing a drink. You're sharing a meal and you're sharing physical intimacy."
There was no suggestion the woman had been threatened and her client had not tried to stop the woman from leaving, Cooper said.
"She didn't want to go and that's why she didn't go."
He spotted the man walking and swerved onto the footpath and hit him.