Sailors deny raping colleague

Two Navy ratings repeatedly raped and sexually violated a female colleague at the Devonport naval base after a night of drinking, a court has been told.

Sidney Walter Mcann Junior Ranapia, 22, and Riki Percival Eriha Roberts, 25, met the woman at a Devonport reserve where she had been drinking alcohol with friends, prosecutor Mina Wharepouri told the Auckland District Court.

After walking to the summit of Mt Victoria, they moved on to two nearby bars before returning to a cabin in the naval base, he said.

Ranapia and Roberts are accused of four counts of rape, four of sexual violation and one of attempted sexual violation. Both deny the charges, saying the sex on November 25, 2007, was consensual.

Mr Wharepouri said the woman, who cannot be named, was not clear how she ended up back at the base.

"What is clear is when she gathered her senses in the small room, the two accused were engaging her in sexual activity without her consent."

He said she "repeatedly told them no" but they continued and the "forced encounter" continued for some time.

Ranapia left the room and bumped into a fellow rating and, in a "show of some depravity", asked him if he wanted to "enjoy thirds" because "Roberts was getting his seconds".

The woman gathered her belongings and left the room and told a friend what happened. The military police were called, followed by North Shore police.

Mr Wharepouri said that when both men were interviewed by police they said the sex was consensual. Ranapia had said they drank beer for several hours before asking the woman if she wanted to enter the cabin.

In his interview, which will be played to the jury, Ranapia said he began "hooking up" with the complainant and Roberts went to leave but she asked him to stay.

He claimed he left after 15-20 minutes because it felt "a bit weird".

In his two-hour interview with police, Roberts said he could remember having a conversation with the complainant about having a threesome. He said he was reticent at first and uncomfortable with another man being in the room.

Despite that, Mr Wharepouri said, Roberts continued having sex with her.

In his opening address, he told the jurors they would hear things that would not be pleasant.

"The sexual morality of these two men is not on trial. What is on trial is their sexual conduct."

He said jurors would have to put aside their feelings about group sex. The real issue was about consent, and the complainant would have been unable to give that because she was so drunk.

The trial has been set down for seven days.