KEY POINTS:
A woman at the centre of sex charges against former league star Tea Ropati had a blood-alcohol level almost four times the legal driving limit around the time of the alleged offending, a District Court jury was told yesterday.
ESR evidence said samples taken from Ropati's alleged victim estimated the woman's level at the time to have been between 238 and 296 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
The legal limit for driving is 80mg.
Ropati, 43, is denying six charges of sexual violation - including rape - of a 36-year-old woman in the early hours of June 15, 2006.
Prosecutors allege Ropati assaulted the woman after the couple met at Auckland's Whiskey Bar earlier in the evening. The woman cannot be named for legal reasons.
Forensic scientist Alan Stowell told prosecutor Phil Hamlin alcohol had an anaesthetic effect, and with a level of up to 296mg, the drinker "is going to be affected to some degree".
Alcohol tolerance varied according to how often it was consumed, he said.
Ropati's lawyer, Gary Gotleib, asked Dr Stowell if blackouts and the resulting memory loss were a sign of a drinking problem.
"They don't necessarily mean the person is an alcoholic ... memory deficits can occur after a single binge."
Australian forensic toxicologist Olaf Drummer told the court he estimated the woman had consumed the equivalent of 14 to 16 standard drinks in the course of the night.
A line of cocaine the woman had snorted hours earlier was not likely to have been affecting her about the time of the alleged attack, he said.
Detective Nicholas Poore gave evidence yesterday of an early interview with Ropati, in which a statement was taken.
In the statement - which Mr Poore read to the court - Ropati said he met a woman at the Whiskey Bar, who seemed "fine at first", and "happy".
The pair had became friendly over the course of the night, and had wound up together in an area of the bar known as "The Whiskey Room".
"We were pretty much groping each other in there ... clowning around and being silly," the statement said.
Ropati said the pair had later gone in his car to Victoria Park where, prosecutors allege, the rape took place.
But he denied having sex with the woman, and in the statement said he had taken her to a taxi and given her $40 for the fare home.
In a brief opening statement late yesterday, Mr Gotleib told the court Ropati would call evidence in his defence, including scientific and character witnesses.
Ropati's wife is also expected to testify, but not Ropati, as Mr Gotleib said there was nothing he could add to what had already been submitted.
