KEY POINTS:
The man accused of repeatedly raping a Dunedin student last year was today committed for trial.
In Dunedin District Court the defence for the 35-year-old, who has name suppression, conceded there was a prima facie case to answer.
Judge Graeme Noble committed the man for trial on four charges including attempted murder, sexual violation by rape, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and robbery.
The prosecution alleged that the man dragged his 21-year-old victim by her hair to a car park in central Dunedin late last year.
He forced her to undress, punched her many times about the face and body and raped her repeatedly for "a long time" while frequently pulling a rope tight around her neck.
Throughout the ordeal, he kept threatening to kill her.
After he stopped raping her and told her to get dressed, he became angry about losing the piece of rope, pushed her back to the ground and started strangling her.
She thought he was going to kill her and screamed loudly but he told her nobody would hear her.
She said she decided she was not going to "die like this". She grabbed the man's testicles and squeezed them, causing him to loosen his hands from her throat.
She said she remembered nothing after that until she was home in her flat, screaming and crying.
- NZPA
