KEY POINTS:
Former league hero Tea Ropati will argue his alleged sexual violation of a woman he met in a central Auckland bar was a consensual act and that he was "a creature of circumstances".
His lawyer, Gary Gotleib, yesterday told an Auckland District Court jury not to think of the 42-year-old as a sexual predator, but as a man who fell in with a woman and her friends who had been "binge drinking, taking cocaine and marijuana".
The former Warrior faces six charges of attempted sexual violation, sexual violation, rape and sodomy, stemming from a June 15, 2006, incident in Ponsonby's Whiskey Bar.
It is alleged Ropati met the then-36-year-old woman about midnight on June 14, and - after attempting to sexually violate her in a back room - took her to nearby Victoria Park.
There, prosecutors say, the former Warriors player sexually violated, raped and sodomised her as she lay passed out in his car.
Ropati denies all the charges.
Prosecutor Phil Hamlin said Ropati was "on the prowl" when he arrived at the bar, and was "very active" in his flirting with the woman - who prosecutors say was extremely drunk and affected by drugs.
Ropati met his alleged victim soon after his arrival and had flirted. But about 2am Ropati's behaviour became more overtly sexual, and events took "a significant turn for the worse".
The Whiskey has a back room, where Ropati was seen to take the woman, Mr Hamlin said.
Video footage from the bar was played to the court.
The woman told the court she remembered aspects of the evening, but not any of the alleged incidents until she woke up in Ropati's car.
"I recall coming to. I recall an angry face over me. It was an angry, twisted face. I remember being in extreme pain."
"I said 'you can't get away with that' ... He said 'shut the f*** up'."
She said Ropati eventually gave her $40 before allegedly telling her to "get the f*** out of my car".
Police spoke with Ropati about two months after the incident, when Ropati had told officers he remembered meeting the woman, Mr Hamlin told the court
Ropati also admitted having had a few drinks and to groping the woman later in the evening.
However, he said the woman had been "fully consenting" and the pair were just "being idiots" in the bar.
Mr Hamlin said Ropati had admitted taking the woman to Victoria Park, where they came close to having sex. Ropati then told investigators he stopped after he "got the guilts".
LEAGUE CAREER
* Faatea (Tea) Ropati
* Born: September 7, 1965
* Clubs: Newcastle Knights 1988, St Helens 1989 to 1994, Warriors 1995 to 1999
* National Rep: Junior Kiwis, Kiwis, Samoa
* British league player of the year: 1992/1993
* Played in the inaugural Auckland Warriors match against Brisbane Broncos in March, 1995
