Woman recalls how rape of underage girl was filmed

The abuse allegedly took place between 1999 and 2010 and the complainants were under 12 for the majority of that time, the court heard. Photo / 123RF (file photo)

A woman has described to a jury her childhood ordeal of watching her friend being raped while her alleged abuser filmed it.

A 61-year-old Central Otago man accused of perpetrating the sex crimes against four girls is on trial in the Dunedin District Court.

He faces five charges of indecent assault, three of rape and two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between 1999 and 2010.

A charge of indecent assault was withdrawn by the Crown yesterday.

The first complainant - who was in the witness box the entire day - told the court of an incident that took place in the man's bedroom when he was alone with her and a friend.

''I was standing next to this tripod about the same size as me. [My friend] would be kind of laughing it off saying, 'No, no' but he'd just continue to climb over her,'' the woman said.

''He was just so big. She was so tiny. I asked him to turn the camera off; he said, 'No, no. Leave it on'. So I just had to stand there naked just watching it happen ... Then I felt like I needed to look away.''

The complainant, who was under the age of 12 at the time, cried as she recalled the alleged incident and the court was adjourned briefly to allow her to compose herself.

She also spoke of repeated instances where she and a friend would shower and the defendant would be waiting for them with a towel on the floor.

He allegedly laid them down and groped them while applying baby oil and the woman told the jury she had a vivid memory of watching her friend being raped in that setting.

''I remember him being real big over her,'' she said.

Counsel Bill Dawkins suggested the witness had added extra details regarding one incident to what she had told the police in an interview two years ago.

She was adamant that was not the case.

''The feeling ... You can't forget it,'' she said.

Dawkins put it to the complainant that she had incorrectly remembered the incident of being filmed and that there was a more innocent explanation.

''It was no more than you and [your friend] wanting to see yourselves on the small TV in the bedroom via the video. You made a request of the defendant to do this and he agreed.''

The woman said that was not the way she remembered it.

In his final questions of cross-examination the lawyer noted she was not the first to come forward to police and asked her whether another complainant had ''recruited'' her.

''I'm not a recruit. I'm a victim,'' she said.

''You're one of the four who got your heads together,'' Dawkins continued. ''The reason you can't give any detail [of the alleged rape] ... is not because you're a victim, it's because you could not get your stories right.''

The woman denied that. She had not gone to the police independently because she wanted to get on with her life, she said. Asked why she hadn't told anyone at the time, she said she was ''afraid''.

The trial continues.