In Masterton, the complainant went into a laundromat to dry the prisoner’s rain-soaked clothing where she found someone who could call the police for her. The escapee was arrested shortly afterwards.
The defendant is charged with one count of abduction for the purpose of sexual connection, assault with a weapon and sexual violation by rape – he has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
His lawyer Letizea Ord said her client never intentionally produced the knife and had not shown it as a threat to the complainant. Instead, she said the pair had got along well – smoking cannabis together in the car and then having consensual sex.
The cannabis was shared to calm the prisoner down, according to the complainant. She used it regularly to assist her in sleeping and to aid the arthritic pain in her leg. She said she thought it would make him relaxed, meaning he would hopefully leave her alone.
The pair consumed cannabis together on two occasions - once before the sexual activity and again sometime afterwards.
In response to questions from Crown lawyer Stephanie Bishop, the complainant said the marijuana did appear to calm the defendant, and that he seemed to have “simmered”.
“It was when I said I wouldn’t have sex that he pulled the knife out again and said, ‘That’s what this is for’.”
Ord suggested cannabis could have a heightened effect on sexual enjoyment.
When the complainant said she did not think cannabis heightened sexual feelings, Ord questioned it again as the complainant was “smiling”.
“I just thought it was a joke, it’s ridiculous, I’m sorry,” the complainant replied.
“The combination of the marijuana and your generally congenial conversation over quite a long period of time led you to agree to have sexual activity with him,” said Ord
“Not. At. All,” the complainant replied.
“I haven’t had sex in seven years, I don’t think I’d have sex with someone I picked up from the side of the road... I had sex with him because he had threatened my life. I have kids and my own life. I didn’t want to die, or be cut open.”
“He was going to cut me open if I did not have sex with him.”
Ord said the complainant had seen the knife accidentally when she collected the prisoner’s clothes to take into the laundromat.
“Seeing the knife made you think about all the things you had done to help him along the way. That made you think that you could be in real trouble with the police.”
Examples of the things the complainant did to help the defendant included giving him her phone to call several contacts - none of whom picked up - buying him food at a dairy and telling him where the police stations were in towns they were driving through.
The complainant vehemently denied she was trying to help him, instead saying she was terrified of the man and just wanted to keep him calm and on her side as much as possible.
She said the man “scared the hell out of her” and she had gone along with him to try to save her own life.
There were also questions from Ord regarding the complainant’s alleged “psychic ability” and why she had not asked a dairy worker for help when the prisoner allowed her out of the car to go in and buy him food.
“You saw the Indian lady behind the counter. You said something [in an interview with police] like you’re psychic and you didn’t say anything to her at that stage because you had this psychic feeling that she wouldn’t be able to help.”
The complainant said that yes, she had a feeling the woman would not be able to help, but that wasn’t the only reason she did not ask for assistance at that stage.
“Involving another woman was not a good idea. I knew she wasn’t going to understand, she was going to ask me three times and he was going to see me. I’d be involving another woman in a dairy where there’s no police, and he’s sitting in the car with a knife.”
The trial continues tomorrow.
Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.
