A teenager who said he was repeatedly blackmailed into a sex act with a New Zealand social media influencer — and on two occasions raped while unconscious — would often use terms of endearment with the man, the influencer's lawyers showed jurors today as they combed through text messages between the two.
He also sent the man nude photos.
"Would you agree sending a love-heart emoji is flirtatious?" defence lawyer Emma Priest asked the accuser, now an adult known in court documents as Mr A, as he returned to the witness stand for a second day.
"Not in the context it was sent in," he responded.
The defendant, who has interim name suppression, pleaded not guilty earlier this week to six counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, three counts of blackmail and two counts of aggravated wounding by stupefaction. The accusations, dating back to 2016, come from two accusers who were teenagers at the time of their friendships with the defendant.