The group walked from their gym to go dancing at a bar in Central Wellington. Photo / NZME
Warning: This story discusses allegations of indecent assault.
CCTV footage showing a drunken night out in a central Wellington bar is crucial in proving a sportsman’s innocence in an indecent assault trial, his lawyer believes.
The man, who has name suppression, is on trial at the Wellington District Court this week, facing six charges of indecent assault and one of aggravated wounding, by “stupefying” a complainant with an unknown pill.
He denies all charges.
The allegations arise from three women, one of whom was a teen at the time, who say they were indecently assaulted by the man during a 2020 Christmas party for the gym they all attended.
The man is alleged to have touched the bottoms and breasts of two women, and at the bar given one an “unknown pill” which caused her to be impaired.
He is also alleged to have slapped the bottom of another, a teen at the time, when he put her on a raised platform and asked her to dance for him.
Lawyer Paul Knowsley today continued his cross-examination of the woman who claimed she was inappropriately touched and “drugged” by the man.
The court saw extensive CCTV footage from the bar on the evening of the allegations - footage that was played to the complainant in the witness box.
The footage depicted her dancing, touching and interacting with the defendant and Knowsley suggested she was lying when she said she had been avoiding his client that night.
“The truth is you were a willing participant in what was going on,” Knowsley said.
Touching shown in the CCTV footage was described as of a sexual nature by Knowsley, but the complainant denied this.
“If I hugged someone that doesn’t mean they can sexually assault me,” she told the court.
Knowsley mentioned text messages and social media messages the woman sent to the defendant the morning after the night out, and argued it showed there was no bad blood between the two.
Knowsley put it to her that because of the woman’s actions that night, and messages sent to others, she felt her relationship was on the line.
“You were in trouble and decided to get out of that trouble by blaming everything on [him].”
A second witness was called, the partner of the woman, who said the night she had come home she was rolling her eyes and needed to be supported by multiple people.
He said it was a shock and “disturbing” to see her in the state she was in, “slurring” and “incoherent”, and he was angry when he found out his partner had been “forced” to take a pill.
The witness told the court he and his partner didn’t drink much or take drugs and was worried for his partner, whom he trusted.
During his cross-examination, Knowsley put to the witness that his partner, the woman alleging the indecent assault and stupefying, had told him she was pursued by the man.
Knowsley told the witness about the closeness between the woman and his client on the night of the allegations, including hugging and dancing between the two, alleging the conduct was a “come-on”.
“That’s friendly ... there’s no laws against that, there are laws against grabbing bottoms and boobs without people’s permission,” the partner told the court.
The second complainant, who alleged she was groped on her bottom and breasts during the walk from the gym to the bar, gave evidence this afternoon as well.
She said the man had “aggressively” and “repeatedly” groped her on the walk, touching her bottom and breasts when he had his arm around her shoulder.
She said she had justified the man’s actions at the time by the fact he was drunk, but during the walk, she and the first woman spoke about the inappropriate touching.
Knowsley questioned the woman, asking if she remembered the events correctly, later putting to her the contact might have been an accident.
“I don’t think aggressively groping somebody is an accident,” she said.
He also put to the woman that there was no indecent assault at all.
The man on trial is accused of touching the bottoms and breasts of two of the women while making their way from the gym to the bar during the party.
While at the bar the man is alleged to have put a pill in the mouth of one of the two women, which she swallowed, causing her to feel “impaired”.
She was then put in an Uber home with a friend.
The group continued to another bar where the man was alleged to have targeted a third female, who was a teen at the time, putting her on a raised platform, slapping her bottom and telling her to dance for him.
The Crown submitted yesterday the man had later attempted to kiss the girl.
The women made initial complaints to the gym, which was investigated by the owners. The allegations were later advanced to the police.
The gym cannot be named because of suppression orders. The trial continues tomorrow.
Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Police could be seen cordoning off a street in the area.