Jury retires in teen sex video blackmail trial

The trial of two men accused of kidnapping a teenage girl and threatening to post images of her being sexually violated on the internet has nearly finished. File photo / NZ Herald

A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of two men accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl and threatening to post images of her being sexually violated on the internet.

Wei Feng, 20, and another man, 22, whose name is suppressed, have been on trial in the High Court at Auckland charged with kidnapping and blackmail while the 22-year-old is also charged with sexual violation.

The Crown allege that in September 2008 Feng lured the girl to the other man's house in the Auckland suburb of Lynfield on the pretence of taking her to lunch, well aware that there she would be photographed naked and blackmailed by his friend.

Feng left her there and locked the door behind him, whereupon the other man asked her to open a bank account in her name and to give him the card because he owed money to the bank.

She agreed but the man said he needed an assurance that she would not contact police about the fraud.

Crown prosecutor Anna Longdill said he threatened to rape her unless she either posed naked for photographs or performed oral sex on him.

She was scared, upset and captive in the house so she complied with this demand while he filmed the act on a cellphone, Ms Longdill said.

"I didn't want to do it, I just wanted to leave, but I didn't have any choice," the girl told police.

Over the ensuing weeks the man sent her threatening text messages telling her that if she did not reply to him he would post the footage on the internet.

The man's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, argued the girl went to the house willingly and was never detained there, nor was she sexually violated.

The man did send her threatening text messages but this was because he had been frustrated that she would not commit the fraud as she had promised.

Mr Mansfield said the images he was referring to in these messages were of her drinking at a karaoke bar -- which her strict mother would have taken exception to -- and were not even taken by him.

The Crown case was entirely dependant on the girl's evidence, which was unreliable, given the inconsistencies between what she said in her police interview and what she said during the trial, Mr Mansfield said.

"If you (the jury) are fair and impartial you must have grave concerns regarding the complainant's account in light of (the accused's) evidence".

Justice Mark Woolford told the jury that, should they arrive at guilty verdicts, they needed to consider whether Feng was a principal offender or just a party to the crimes.

The jury of six men and six women will continue deliberating in the morning.

- NZPA