The ex-boyfriend of a woman accusing a well-known New Zealand musician of domestic violence was called in as a last-minute defence witness on Thursday.
The defendant, who has name suppression, is on trial at the Auckland District Court over four charges of assault on a person in a family relationship, two charges of threatening to kill, two charges of assault with a weapon, suffocation and threatening to do grievous bodily harm, dating back to November 2022.
Over the course of the week-long trial, the court heard the complainant's claims of being strangled, punched and verbally abused by the musician - her former partner - who was more than 20 years older than her.
The defence argued the musician only used physical force in self-defence and accused the complainant of being abusive due to her mental health.
Defence lawyer Susan Gray argued the evidence from the ex-boyfriend showed the complainant had treated both men in similar ways, including bombarding them with calls, and becoming violent when jealous and angry.
The ex-boyfriend, who dated the complainant for five years in their late teens, told the court the relationship was volatile.
He claimed she had punched him "out of the blue" on one occasion, when accusing him of cheating on her.
When the complainant was questioned by Gray on that claim, she said, in that instance, the man had admitted to cheating and she asked if she could punch him.
She said she only punched him after he gave permission, but admitted that was wrong and she was not proud of her actions, but that was the only instance in the relationship where things got physical.
The complainant said the man had a meth addiction towards the end of their relationship and she called him a lot when he would disappear for days.
A family friend of the defendant also gave evidence on Thursday. The man, who had known the musician for 10 years, said he had told him the relationship with the complainant was challenging.
His friend told him she was abusive towards him and had "intimated" there had been physical violence.
Under cross-examination by the Crown's lawyer Emma Barnes, the man confirmed he had never met the complainant nor seen the former couple together.
Crown's closing statement: Complainant had no motive to lie
Crown lawyer Emma Barnes told the jury of eight men and three women that the complainant had no motive to lie about the abuse by her former partner.
"Near the end of her evidence, I asked [her], 'My friend [the defence] has suggested that you've come to court and you've made this all up essentially, what do you have to say about that?',
"[She] replied, 'That is absolutely incorrect and it makes me feel really upset, that kind of thing just stops people from coming forward about these things, but it absolutely did happen and I know it in my heart that it did happen'," Barnes said.
She said the complainant showed consistency and an "honesty of purpose" during her evidence, and she pointed to the complainant's phone notes in which she wrote descriptions of the incidents, often soon afterwards. She had made two online reports to police and phone calls to 1-1-1 on three separate occasions after being assaulted.
Barnes said the complainant had also admitted things that were not favourable to her, such as struggles with her mental health and punching an ex-boyfriend, which she said was what honest witnesses did.
She said defence claims that the complainant was physically abusive were implausible.
"If [he] was so frightened of [her], why did he never call police? Why did he never report this behaviour?"
Barnes also questioned the defendant's claims of biting the complainant out of self defence, after claiming that she elbowed him first.
"Why would you bite someone in self-defence? How would you bite someone if someone elbowed you rapidly and quickly, wouldn't your teeth get knocked out?"
Barnes also argued that the defendant's claims that he supported the claimant's mental health, were not consistent with the names he would call her - "c***", "dumb f***", "premenstrual b****".
Defence's closing statement: Defendant 'entirely blameless' for physical violence
Defence lawyer Susan Gray argued the complainant had issues with anger and jealousy, and that transformed into behaviour that could be described as "harassment".
She pointed to evidence that the complainant had called the defendant 48 times in one day, backed up by call logs from Vodafone (now One NZ).
"I suggest that incessant calling and texting, when she knew [he] did not want to engage with her, is entirely consistent with his evidence that she experienced high levels of anger, emotional dysregulation... for whatever reason, she is just unable to control or manage."
Gray said this was not the behaviour of someone who scared of the recipient.
"If [he] had strangled and threatened her in the ways she has described, do you honestly think that she would be messaging and calling him in this manner?"
Gray said, while the defendant was not "blameless" of verbal abuse, he was entirely blameless of physical violence.
She pointed to examples of the complainant engaging with the defendant soon after she was allegedly assaulted.
Gray asked the jury to consider a letter the complainant wrote to the defendant after a trip to Bali, where one of the incidents happened.
The letter was shown to the jury earlier on in the trial and showed the complainant apologising, and made no reference to physical violence.
Earlier in the trial, the complainant told the court that she had previously apologised to the defendant, after being assaulted, because she had been manipulated by him into feeling that everything was her fault.
Gray said the defendant had never suffocated the complainant and never threatened to kill her, and the only physical force he used was biting her, after she had whacked him on the mouth. He had never punched her in the head nor hit her with a jandal during one of their trips to Bali.
Gray said the trial had laid bare a toxic relationship, but urged the jury to consider whether there was proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of those serious offences.
Where to get help:
Women's Refuge: 0800 733 843.
It's Not OK 0800 456 450.
Shine: 0508 744 633.
Victim Support: 0800 842 846.
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655.
The National Network of Family Violence Services NZ has information on specialist family violence agencies.
