Dunedin man allegedly took girl to Auckland Taylor Swift show, raped her

The court heard he allegedly took the woman to a Taylor Swift concert in Auckland and the pair stayed in a hotel, where he provided her with alcohol. Photo / Getty Images

A Dunedin man allegedly took a girl to a Taylor Swift concert in Auckland and raped her in a hotel room.

The attack was among countless alleged sexual assaults in a four-year period, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

The 53-year-old defendant, whose name is suppressed, is on trial after pleading not guilty to eight counts of rape, seven of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, four of sexual conduct with an under-16-year-old and one of supplying cannabis to a minor.

The complainant, now in her late teens, told the court yesterday the offending began when the man's partner was pregnant.

She said she hated it when he kissed her.

"If anything, that was the worst," the teen said. "He had foul breath and his teeth were horrible too. Everything about it just repulsed me."

Crown prosecutor Craig Power said the complainant was not physically forced into sex acts - it was psychological pressure.

"He would blackmail her, punish her and she really had no choice, really, but to comply with whatever he wanted," he said.

The woman said she complied as a means to an end.

"He never forced me, not like he held me down or anything, but it was more like an emotional control," she said.

"A lot of it had to do with control. He likes to control people."

Power said some of the charges related to opportunistic instances, and others to where he allegedly created his own opportunities to isolate her.

The court heard the accused allegedly took the woman to a Taylor Swift concert in Auckland and the pair stayed in a hotel, where he gave her alcohol.

The man is accused of later taking the complainant to Queenstown, where they shared a hotel bed and he gave her cannabis.

He raped her both times, she said.

The complainant told the jury that after years of abuse, the pair developed a code where they could discuss sex in front of the defendant's partner.

The defendant would say a certain favour to the complainant would be worth a number of "cups of tea".

The number referred to how many minutes she would have to perform sex acts, the court heard.

Power said the man bought the under-age girl a sex toy and bragged about it to a colleague.

The workmate would give evidence later in the trial, he said.

Counsel John Westgate said the complainant was "'anything but an isolated, vulnerable young girl" as portrayed by the Crown.

The rebuttal to the charges was straightforward.

"The defence is that every one of the allegations is false. They didn't happen," Westgate said. "She actively sought out the defendant's company and was quite happy to go away with him."

The trial, in front of Judge Michael Crosbie and a jury of eight women and four men, is scheduled to last four days.