KEY POINTS:
Acquitted rape-accused Tea Ropati is behind a family threat to carry out a private prosecution of his accuser for her admitted cocaine use.
Brother John Ropati, a barrister, last night confirmed the family were furious the woman's snorting of the class A narcotic had gone unpunished.
Asked if Tea Ropati and another brother, Peter, the Sky broadcaster, supported the private prosecution, John Ropati replied, "Absolutely".
"There was a huge song and dance made when the celebrity drug ring was before the courts, so what's the difference here?
"Perhaps police could clarify ... the way these women are being treated. Is it because these women are high-flying from the Ponsonby set?"
Tea Ropati, 43, was acquitted on Thursday of six sex charges, including rape and sodomy, laid after he met the 36-year-old woman at the Whiskey bar in Ponsonby Rd on June 15, 2006.
It was revealed during the hearing that the woman - who has permanent name suppression - had snorted cocaine with friends that night.
John Ropati said the family were prepared to have their name again dragged through the mud, though he did not believe they should have to.
"We should not have to do it because it's the police's job and they should uphold the law and not hand out favours to anyone. Someone in that group had the cocaine that night, someone supplied it to the other members of that group - that's possession for supply," he said.
But the detective who played a key role in the Ropati prosecution yesterday rejected a claim by the Sunday News that the former league star's accuser is herself under police investigation.
Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Beard told the Herald that the claim the woman was "the focus of a class A drugs investigation" was incorrect, and police planned only to "review" the case in a post-trial debrief with the Crown.
"We will ... ask what we could have done better, what our strong points and our weaknesses were."
Mr Beard said "a minimal amount" of cocaine was found in a urine sample, and the woman had been "quite upfront about it".
Officers had to weigh the "evidential sufficiency and public interest" of a prosecution, he said.
"At this stage police are not looking to lay any charges."
Mr Beard was puzzled as to what the Ropati family hoped to gain by mounting their own prosecution.
"I am not sure if it is re-victimisation, but I am not sure why they would want to do be doing that.
"In the end, the Ropati family would have their reasons for that."
A spokeswoman for the woman said the Ropati family's plans were "a matter we won't be addressing".
