A woman called her husband and sent a photo to police while she was being allegedly violated close to Coronet Peak near Queenstown, a court has heard.
The man accused, who cannot be named, is before the Invercargill District court today defending eight charges relating to the alleged rape in the early hours of December 8, 2022.
The court was told the complainant, while being attacked in the backseat of the defendant’s car at a rest-stop on the mountain, was able to call her husband who heard her verbal protests and called the police.
The jury watched her evidential video interview, in which she said she was then sent a link by police, tracking her location and asking her to take a photo.
The woman said she clicked the link and a photo of the man's face between her legs was taken and sent to the authorities.
Defence counsel Peter Redpath said there were sexual relations that morning between the two, but that it was “between two willing and mutually consenting adults”.
The Crown said the two met after a long night of partying at the ski-town bars and the defendant offered to drive the woman home.
Crown prosecutor Mary-Jane Thomas told the jury that they were going to see CCTV footage later of the pair kissing before they set off on their drive.
Ms Thomas said that the man, instead of taking the victim home, took her up the winding road of Coronet Peak and crashed into a barrier.
She then said the complainant blacked out and awoke, naked in the backseat of his car, with him sexually assaulting her.
The woman said the "maybe seven” drinks she had that night combined with her medication, an antihistamine, and the whiplash caused by the crash caused her to feel not in control of her body.
Judge Duncan Harvey told the jury that the trial will go on for four to five days.
