Rape accused were 'like dogs looking at raw meat'

A woman told a jury that five men she alleges pack-raped her were like "a pack of dogs looking at raw meat".

Having earlier described being lured to a building in Mt Maunganui on the pretext of a lunch date with one of them, she yesterday gave a graphic account of the incident which took place 16 years ago when she was aged 20.

The man she thought she was meeting for a date was dominant in the group, ordering her to lie down, restraining her, raping her twice, forcing her mouth on to his penis, and repeatedly shoving an object into her. This accused had made "all sorts of derogatory comments", as he carried out the acts. While using an object on her he had said, "you like it don't you? Do you want it harder?" She said the man was deliberately trying to hurt her with the object.

The others were grinning. "It was like a pack of dogs looking at raw meat, there was no respect."

She described them variously as "frenzied", having a "glazed" expression and like a "rabid dog".

The five all raped and detained her, she said. Four men - two of them former public servants - face charges. The other alleged offender has never been identified.

The defendants deny the charges and say the woman was a willing participant in group sex.

The woman told the court she "just wanted to die" when the second man shoved the fingers of one hand roughly inside her.

"There were lots of 'ooh yeahs' going on in the background, 'ooh yeah, get her'."

The third man to rape her was "almost running to get in".

The fourth had looked at her as though she was "some rotten prostitute who deserved what was going on". She made eye-contact with a fifth man, on "lookout" on a balcony two metres from her, in a silent plea for help but he raped her as well, despite showing some reluctance.

"I said to him, 'they've ruined my life anyway, you might as well'.

"That in no form was permission to rape me, that was desperation."

She had repeatedly told them "no" and sobbed quietly but did not cry out for help.

"[X] is a big man. I had my hands above my head, my legs were spread. There was nothing I could do." There was no telling what they may have done had she screamed, said the woman, who is now married with children.

In cross-examination it was suggested she was a precocious young woman who decided to have sex with a group of fit, athletic men she described as being "chick magnets". The woman dismissed that as a "scenario out of a Penthouse magazine. She did not make a complaint or seek medical treatment at the time because she feared circumstances such as her pursuing the date and going voluntarily to the building may be misconstrued.

Defence counsel Paul Mabey, QC: "If you had gone to the doctor, there's the evidence to indicate the truth, isn't it?

Complainant: "I didn't see it that way at the time."

Mr Mabey: "Was it that there was no visit to a doctor because there was no injury to be seen ... because your story of forced rape is untrue?"

Complainant: "Incorrect."