Teenager gets 10 years non-parole for rape

A teenager who claimed he was forced at gunpoint to take part in the vicious rape and assault of a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl has been jailed for 16 years.

David Mamea, 18, was jailed in the High Court in Auckland today after a jury found him guilty last month of the rape and attempted murder of the girl early on New Year's Day, 2004.

Mamea, 16 at the time of the attack, was found not guilty of being a party to rape. He had earlier admitted a charge of aggravated burglary.

On the rape charge he was jailed for 16 years with a 10-year, non-parole term. On the attempted murder charge he was jailed for 10 years and on the aggravated burglary charge he was jailed for seven years. All terms were to be served concurrently.

During his trial he told the jury he had been forced at gunpoint by four of his "friends' mates", to enter a house in Manurewa at 3.30am and stab the victim as she slept.

The trial heard she had been stabbed 10 times with a kitchen knife, raped, bitten and then thrown over the back fence. Her mother heard her cries and found her, probably saving her life.

There were stab wounds in her neck close to her carotid artery and in the abdomen which pierced her liver.

Police were later to say the victim was one of the hardiest victims they had encountered and she was making a good recovery.

Police also said at least one other involved in the attack had yet to be caught after Mamea refused to give police details of an accomplice.

- NZPA