Man found guilty of raping girlfriend's best friend

File photo / NZH

A young Wairarapa man wept uncontrollably in the dock when he was found guilty by a jury in Wellington District Court today of raping his then girlfriend's best friend.

Jareth James Graham Fittall, 23, of Pahiatua, had lured the 16-year-old virgin with promises of love and marriage but wanted "quick sex", the court heard during the three-day trial.

Fittall had pleaded not guilty to sexual violation by rape at Masterton on October 18 last year.

After the unanimous verdict, which took just over two hours, Judge Denys Barry convicted Fittall, who will be sentenced on December 21.

He has been remanded on bail due to what the judge described as "unusual personal circumstances".

Since the rape, Fittall's eyesight had deteriorated to such an extent that he was "visually impaired to the point of blindness", the judge said.

He had ongoing health and forensic clinical care issues.

Judge Barry said many practical matters would have to be addressed as Fittall - who used a cane to make his way in and out of the courtroom - approached "the inevitability of a sentence of imprisonment".

Defence lawyer Ken Daniels unsuccessfully sought continued name suppression while the Crown prosecutor Dale La Hood said he was surprised to hear that interim suppression had continued even after Fittall had been committed to trial.

The judge agreed that naming the convicted man was in the interests of open justice. The rape complainant had told the Crown she was happy for his name to be published.

Bail conditions included no contact with the victim.

In his summing up to the jury of seven men and five women, Mr La Hood said the 16-year-old was naive and thought Fittall loved her, she loved him and they would get married, though they hardly knew each other.

He had got her number off his girlfriend's mobile phone, unbeknown to either of the girls. The couple's "relationship" was mainly by way of text messages.

There was absolutely no doubt that some of the victim's actions were immature and perhaps even dangerous, said Mr La Hood. But that was no excuse for someone to rape her.

Even though the teenager agreed reluctantly by text to have sex, it did not mean she had lost her right to change her mind - which she did.

She was scared she would get pregnant. Fittall had said he was allergic to condoms and told the girl she could go and see a nurse afterward and get the "morning after" pill.

When she got into the back seat of his car parked behind a rugby clubrooms she did not want sex, said Mr La Hood.

Fittall had been bullying and manipulating the teenager for days and played with her emotions.

She wanted to talk things over and to be cuddled and comforted.

"He decided to do what he had wanted all day - to have sex with her. He didn't really care if she was consenting," the prosecutor said.

Repeated appeals to stop went unheeded.

"He was a young man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted that day."

Mr Daniels submitted the sex was consensual.

There had been texts going back and forward saying "I love you" and "I love you too."

The pair, said Mr Daniels, was "like cooing doves."

They broke up by text message and reconciled the same way.

The girl was not in the back seat of a car "to play tiddlywinks".

She had said she wanted to talk and have a cuddle and kiss.

"The Tui billboards say 'Yeah, right!'," Mr Daniels told the jury, adding that he did not think his client was "going there for a talk either."

- NZPA








\NZP


- NZPA