Man denies he raped 14-year-old girlfriend at Wanaka home

Warning: This story discusses an alleged sexual assault and may cause distress

A 14-year-old girl who sneaked her boyfriend into a house she was staying at in Wanaka was then allegedly raped by him, a court heard yesterday.

The pair were in a relationship at the time.

A trial against the now 19-year-old man began before Judge Duncan Harvey in the Invercargill District Court yesterday.

The man, who was 17 at the time of the alleged offending, is charged with raping the girl at Wanaka on or about February 20, 2021.

In his opening of the Crown case yesterday, lawyer Riki Donnelly said the pair began a relationship in 2020. By December of that year it had become sexual.

However on the night in question, the girl did not give her consent, he said.

The girl was staying at a friend’s house and had arranged with her friend to sneak the man in.

“[The defendant] snuck into the room that night. The defendant had sex with [the complainant] against her will.”

Jurors would hear how the defendant said he never went to the house on the night in question, Donnelly said.

The defendant’s lawyer Sonia Vidal said her client said the incident never happened.

Donnelly said the girl and the man still met up later that same day and the relationship continued after the alleged rape.

She made her complaint to police in September 2021 after the relationship ended, he said.

In a police DVD interview she talked about how she met up with the defendant after the alleged rape happened.