Rape victim's family want to leave

The mother of a 14-year-old girl raped, stabbed and left for dead by intruders in their South Auckland home in 2004 wants to move her family away from the city as soon as she can.

David Mamea, 18, is on trial for attempted murder, rape and being party to rape. He has pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated burglary but denies the other three charges.

Police found semen from another attacker on the victim's clothes and on her blanket but have been unable to find him.

The girl's mother, speaking through a Vietnamese interpreter, told the High Court at Auckland yesterday her family had been unable to recover from the shocking incident. "It's very hard to describe the pain in my heart."

Justice Graham Lang attempted to restrain the mother from expressing her feelings, as she was not answering any questions, and he reassured her everyone in court understood how she felt.

But she continued through tears, saying she just wanted to be able to take her family away from Auckland as soon as she could.

The mother told the court she had not been able to sleep that night worrying about preparations for her son's birthday the next day.

She and her husband left the house for an hour at 3.30am on December 31 to help friends prepare for the party.

Driving back into the driveway, she heard faint cries from her daughter.

The father also gave evidence through the interpreter. He described seeing blood in his daughter's bed as he walked past her room after he had brought her back inside.

"I had blood on my hands, I saw the stabbing mark on her neck and I was terrified."

After the father finished his evidence he stared long and hard at the drooped head of Mamea as he walked past him.