KEY POINTS:
Two female patrons of Auckland's Whiskey Bar have described feeling uneasy about the behaviour of former league star Tea Ropati the night he allegedly sexually violated and raped a woman.
"I didn't like his vibe, so I went inside," one woman said of an encounter with the former Warriors player outside the Ponsonby Rd watering hole.
He looked "particularly scruffy" and was wearing a beanie, she told an Auckland District Court jury yesterday.
Ropati, 42, is denying six counts of sexual violation, including charges of rape and sodomy stemming from a June 15, 2006, incident.
It is alleged he attempted to sexually violate a woman in a back room at the Whiskey Bar, before taking her in his car to nearby Victoria Park where the rape took place.
The second of the two witnesses - both of whom had been drinking with Ropati's alleged victim, and have name suppression - said she felt uneasy around Ropati, despite having met him previously.
"I felt like he was a little bit on the prowl ... just body language, really."
Bar security footage has been played to the court.
Ropati's alleged victim - whose name is also suppressed - yesterday said she had no memory of what happened in the back room but had later seen security footage.
The woman - who had been drinking at the bar with friends - also claimed "no memory whatsoever" of going to Victoria Park with Ropati, and said she had wanted no sexual contact with him. However, she also admitted to prosecutor Phil Hamlin to having snorted "a line" of cocaine earlier in the evening, and spent the night drinking wine and vodka.
Later, under cross examination by Ropati's lawyer, Gary Gotleib, she described herself as "functioning but drunk", with an alcohol level equivalent to having consumed 3.5 bottles of wine.
However, she rejected a suggestion by Mr Gotleib that her memory loss was indicative of a drinking problem.
The trial is set down for eight days.
