Jury told how kidnapped woman was assaulted and had finger cut off in Wellington ordeal

The woman endured a harrowing five days after being kidnapped outside a Wellington hotel. Photo / File

A woman was kidnapped, held underwater and knocked unconscious before her finger was sliced off, a Wellington court has heard.

The woman, whose name has been suppressed, endured a harrowing five days after she was kidnapped outside a central Wellington hotel last year.

Tim Bain told a jury at the Wellington High Court security footage showed the woman clinging to a tree before she was talked into leaving, Stuff reported.

Samuel Anthony Gray, 28, and Pamela Saili Kalepo, 38, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and disfiguring the woman with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Kalepo has pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman, however. Bain today told the jury he hit her when he confronted her about a debt.

The Crown says Gray was in the back seat of the car when the woman was kidnapped on Cuba St.

He placed a chain around her neck, telling her the kidnappers could do whatever they wanted with her, Stuff reported.

The Crown alleges Kalepo's husband, Willie Malua Bentley, held the woman underwater after he led her into the sea at Waitaha Cove.

She slipped away from him but was ordered to return to shallower water while those standing on the store lobbed rocks at her.

Kalepo tried, but failed to cut off the woman's middle finger after she'd been dragged ashore to some nearby rocks, Bain said.

As Malua Bentley prepared to cut off her index finger, the woman screamed and was knocked unconscious before her finger was sliced off.

Gray allegedly stood on the woman's hand after her finger was removed.

But his lawyer said Gray wasn't even there when the kidnapping and assault happened.

The woman was held captive, stripped naked, from March 13 to March 18, Bain said.
She was sexually assaulted during that time.

Bain said no one has since been charged with those assaults.

The woman was only given rags to wrap around her bleeding hand. She managed to escape while those holding her captive were sleeping.

Kalepo's lawyer said she took no part in removing the woman's finger and didn't stop the woman. The woman was free to leave, as far as Kalepo was concerned, her lawyer said.

Malua Bentley was last month sentenced to six years and nine months in jail by Justice Simon France for his part in the kidnapping.

The 32-year-old previously entered guilty pleas to kidnapping and causing grievous bodily harm in relation to the incident.

Justice France said the woman was abducted and kept for several days in relation to a drug debt in what he said was "very cruel, and violent offending".

France said the man's actions were callous and caused mental as well as physical trauma.