A man accused of rape allegedly said he had been “set up by girls before”, a court has heard.
A witness in the Invercargill District Court today said that while dropping the man and the complainant off after a night of partying in Queenstown, he heard him say: “that he has been set up by girls before, so he’s sending his location to police”.
The Crown case is that after being dropped off, the two drove to the rest-stop near Coronet Peak and, in the early hours of December 8, 2022, the man raped the woman in his car. The Crown say this prompted the complainant to call her then-husband, sparking a police call out.
The defendant, who has interim name suppression, faces allegations of rape and other sexual offences.
Defence counsel Peter Redpath has argued from the outset that the sexual relations, which took place in a parked car, were consensual.
The court today first heard from the complainant's friend who was out partying with her in the ski-town, until about 4am when the bars shut.
She said they were milling around with other party-goers trying to figure out how they were going to get home when they met the defendant.
“I remember he asked me if we . . . wanted to go for a drive up the mountain.”
“I said he’s too drunk,” she told the court.
The two then met a man who said he had a sober driver who could give them a lift.
When the sober driver arrived, his friend sat in the front passenger seat while the two women and the defendant piled into the back.
After the defendant directed the driver to where his car was parked, the court heard the complainant told her friend she was going with him.
“I said to [the complainant] don’t go as I grabbed her arm ... I didn’t want her to get in the car with a drunk driver”.
Defence Counsel Peter Redpath reminded the witness that she did not mention her reservations about the man being drunk in her initial statement to police.
He said, in the statement, she was "more emphasizing that it was time to go home”, the witness agreed.
"She reassured you that everything was fine, didn’t she?” Mr Redpath asked.
“And she also told you her husband was picking her up?”
The witness agreed.
The second person to give evidence was the man in the front passenger seat.
He said that when they dropped the pair off, he heard the man make the comment that he had been “set up” before.
He told the court he spoke about it with the sober driver the next day because he thought it was “weird”.
The sober driver, who was also a witness, said during the trip the complainant and the defendant were holding hands and later she was holding the man’s arm.
“[The complainant] told her friend don’t worry she will call her husband, and he will pick her up,” he said.
That concluded the Crown case and the defendant will give evidence this afternoon.
