Stripper admits extortion attempt

A Nelson stripper has admitted trying to extort $3000 from a married American man in exchange for her keeping silent about their trysts.

Lisa Cecilia Taueki, 23, was sentenced to 150 hours of community work at the High Court in Nelson this week for blackmail.

A second blackmail charge was dropped, the Nelson Mail reported.

Crown prosecutor Glen Marshall said the victim, whose name was suppressed, was an American who spent part of each year in New Zealand. The rest of the time he lived in the United States with his wife and family.

In 2006 he met Taueki and over the next two years the pair would often meet and he would pay for sex.

In November 2008 the man decided to end the relationship, the court was told.

Taueki later left a note on his doorstep threatening to tell his wife and community about their meetings if he did not pay her $3000.

"If you don't I will ruin your marriage and your kids will hate you," the note said.

Defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Taueki referred to the $3000 as being "$1000 for every year I was your mistress", and that her response to the news the man had ended the relationship was "driven by hurt and anger".

The man denied the relationship was for anything other than sex, for which he paid $250 each time.

"She was not my mistress. I paid her for sex and she blackmailed me," he said.

- NZPA