KEY POINTS:
A witness in the trial of a former Northland policeman charged with raping a woman in the 1980s has said the accused asked her to have sex with him in the police station about an hour before an alleged rape with another woman.
The witness, whose name is suppressed, was 20 at the time and socialising at a Northland hotel in March 1988 when the accused gave her a lift home.
In Auckland District Court yesterday the woman described a frightening drive home with the "very intoxicated" accused.
She said he drove to the police station "to pick something up" and she remembers feeling irritated because she wanted to get home.
After a long wait for him in the car while he went inside, the woman said she grew worried about him and went to look for him, finding him coming out of an office.
"He made a pass at me, tried to kiss me and said, 'we should do something before we go home'," she said.
"I just laughed it off, and I was a little embarrassed for him because he played rugby with my boyfriend."
The woman said she wasn't attracted to him and knew he was married with children. She convinced him to take her home. The accused then went back to the hotel.
The complainant said yesterday that about an hour later, about 2am, she was driving the accused home when he said he needed to pick something up from the police station.
She told the court she had felt "apprehensive" about giving the drunk officer a lift home, but discussed it with her friend at the time and they agreed, "if you can't trust a policeman, who can you trust?"
The complainant alleged the accused handcuffed her and forced her into the station, where she said he raped her. The accused denies the claims and said the sex was consensual.
He faces eight charges, including four of sexual violation by rape.
The accused was aged 28 at the time and the complainant 44.
She said she tried to bring a prosecution against the officer, but he was not formally charged at the time.
- NZPA
